Daecheongdo (; ) or Daecheong Island is a , long and wide island in Ongjin County,

Incheon Incheon is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi Province to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. As of February 2020, ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, near the Northern Limit Line. The island is from the coast of

South Hwanghae Province South Hwanghae Province (Hwanghaenamdo; , lit. "south Yellow Sea province") is a province in western North Korea. The province was formed in 1954 when the former Hwanghae Province was split into North and South Hwanghae. The provincial capital i ...

in North Korea.Daecheongdo Island
Visit Incheon.

Description

Fishing is popular on the island. Until the late 1980s, skate fishing was a growing industry. The island is at the northernmost natural range of the ''

Camellia japonica ''Camellia japonica'', known as common camellia, or Japanese camellia, is a species of Camellia, a flowering plant genus in the family Theaceae. There are thousands of cultivars of ''C. japonica'' in cultivation, with many colors and forms of flo ...

''. Two islands nearby are

Baengnyeongdo Baengnyeongdo (; ), sometimes Baekryeong Island, is an island in Ongjin County, Incheon, South Korea. It is an inhabited island located near the Northern Limit Line, and is closer to North Korea than it is to the South. Since the 1945 division ...

and the much smaller Socheong Island.

History

It is theorized that Daecheongdo was first inhabited during the

Neolithic Age The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wid ...

(9500–4500 BC). There are definite signs of habitation from the

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean state founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korea, Korean Peninsula until the establishment of Joseon in 1392. Goryeo achieved what has b ...

period (918–1392), during which time the island was used as a place of exile for criminals. The Chinese Emperor

Toghon Temür Toghon Temür (; Mongolian script: ; ; 25 May 1320 – 23 May 1370), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Huizong of Yuan (; ), bestowed by the Northern Yuan, Northern Yuan dynasty, and by his posthumous name as t ...

(1320–1370) was exiled there by the Mongol

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...

for conspiring in a plot arranged by his stepmother. Legend says he arrived at the island with a court and 100 relatives, then built a palace. The island was generally uninhabited until 1793, when King Jeongjo, of the

Joseon Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as ''Chosun''), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom w ...

period (1392–1897), imported farmers to cultivate the land. During the

Japanese occupation of Korea From 1910 to 1945, Korea was ruled by the Empire of Japan under the name Chōsen (), the Japanese reading of "Joseon". Japan first took Korea into its sphere of influence during the late 1800s. Both Korea (Joseon) and Japan had been under polic ...

between 1910 and 1945, there were as many as 10,000 people living there and a large port. The 1953

Korean Armistice Agreement The Korean Armistice Agreement (; zh, t=韓國停戰協定 / 朝鮮停戰協定) is an armistice that brought about a cessation of hostilities of the Korean War. It was signed by United States Army Lieutenant General William Kelly Harrison Jr ...

which ended the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

specified that the five islands including Daecheong Island would remain under U.N. and South Korea control. This agreement was signed by both North Korea and the

United Nations Command United Nations Command (UNC or UN Command) is the multinational military force established to support the South Korea, Republic of Korea (South Korea) during and after the Korean War. It was the first attempt at collective security by the U ...

. Since then, it has served as a maritime demarcation between

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and South Korea in the

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea, also known as the North Sea, is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. Names It is one of four ...

(also called "West Sea"). Today, the island has approximately 1,500 people who sustain a living from

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

and fishing.

2009 battle

On 10 November 2009, the waters near the island were the scene of a skirmish between the South Korean and North Korean navies. A patrol boat from North Korea was seriously damaged while the navy of South Korea sustained no

casualties A casualty (), as a term in military usage, is a person in military service, combatant or non-combatant, who becomes unavailable for duty due to any of several circumstances, including death, injury, illness, missing, capture or desertion. In c ...

References

External links

Official websiteOfficial website
{{in lang, ko Islands of Incheon Islands of the Yellow Sea Ongjin County, Incheon