Jeongdongjin (also Chongdongjin) is a town near

Gangneung Gangneung () is a municipal city in the province of Gangwon-do, on the east coast of South Korea. It has a population of 213,658 (as of 2017).Gangneung City (2003)Population & Households. Retrieved January 14, 2006. Gangneung is the economic ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, and one of the most popular sites in Korea for watching the sunrise on

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

."Best spots to usher in the New Year"
''The Korea Herald'', December 29, 2009. Retrieved 2011-08-20. It is eighteen kilometers south-east of Gangneung on the east coast of Korea along the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

History

In ancient times, at Jeongdongjin the King held a memorial service for the

Dragon King The Dragon King, also known as the Dragon God, is a Chinese water and weather god. He is regarded as the dispenser of rain, commanding over all bodies of water. He is the collective personification of the ancient concept of the ''lóng'' in Ch ...

of the four seas. At the beginning of the Korean War, the beach was a landing area for the 766th Independent Infantry Regiment from North Korea. The North Korean submarine from the

1996 Gangneung submarine infiltration incident The 1996 Gangneung submarine infiltration incident occurred on 18 September 1996, near the South Korean town of Gangneung. The incident was one of the more serious instances of North Korean espionage involving the Reconnaissance Bureau (reconna ...

is on display at Jeongdongjin, which is south-east of An-in beach where it ran aground.

Modern day

Fishermen sailing from the small harbor catch

Pacific saury The Pacific saury (''Cololabis saira'') is a member of the family Scomberesocidae. Saury is a seafood in several East Asian cuisines and is also known by the name mackerel pike. Biology Saury is a fish with a small mouth, an elongated body, ...

, abalone and sole. A ceremony asking God to protect the town, combined with ceremonial prayers for a large catch of fish, is held twice a year in Jeongdongjin. The day of the first full moon of the

lunar year A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases (synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly on the solar year. The most commonly used calendar, the Gr ...

and Dano are also festive occasions. Jeongdongjin is a picturesque area with a quaint railway station alongside the sandy beach. Long a favorite spot among the locals, the area gained wider popularity after being chosen as the filming location for the popular soap opera Moraeshigae (meaning Sandglass) in 1994. A key attraction of Jeongdongjin is the sunrise. The early morning sun rising over the ocean and outlining the train station and surrounding pines is a sight that has been described as "straight out of a fairy tale". During the New Year, Jeongdongjin Sunrise Park is the location of the Sunrise Festival and the ceremonial "turning of the hourglass", signifying the changing year. Overlooking the town is the Sun Cruise Resort & Yacht, a hotel designed to look like a cruise ship.

References

External links

* {{coord, 37.691907, N, 129.032685, E, display=title, type:landmark_region:KR Gangneung Tourism in Korea

History

Modern day

See also

References

External links