Uiryeong County () is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

South Gyeongsang Province South Gyeongsang Province (, ) is a province in the southeast of South Korea. The provincial capital is at Changwon. It is adjacent to the major metropolitan center and port of Busan. The UNESCO World Heritage Site Haeinsa, a Buddhist temple tha ...

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 ...

. Uiryeong County has a population of 27,550 (2019) and is one of the least populated counties in South Korea.

History

Early history

No presence of

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, 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 Revo ...

artefacts have been confirmed, however

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

artefacts such as tombstones have been found in the region. The region is thought to have been in the domain of Aragaya (modern day

Haman County Haman County (''Haman-gun'') is a county in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. The local government is seated in the town of Gaya-eup. The county magistrate is Seok Gyu Jin. In the early Common Era, Haman was the seat of Ara Gaya, a leadin ...

) and the Bisabeol (modern day

Changnyeong County Changnyeong County () is a county in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. In the early Three Kingdoms period, Changnyeong was the seat of Bihwa Gaya, a member of the Gaya confederacy which was later conquered by Silla. The Nakdong River flo ...

) region, during the Three Kingdoms period in Korea, and is thought to have been under the influence of the Kingdom of

Silla Silla (; Old Korean: wikt:徐羅伐#Old Korean, 徐羅伐, Yale romanization of Korean, Yale: Syerapel, Revised Romanization of Korean, RR: ''Seorabeol''; International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ) was a Korean kingdom that existed between ...

, after the province of Haju (下州, 하주) was installed in the region of Changnyeong in 555 (under King

Jinheung of Silla Jinheung (534–576; reign 540–576) was the 24th monarch of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. He followed King Beopheung (r. 514–540) and was followed by King Jinji (r. 576–579). Jinheung was the nephew / grandson of King Beo ...

). The region was also known as Jangham prefecture (獐含縣, 장함현) under Silla, but the prefecture's name was changed to Uiryeong in 757 (under King

Gyeongdeok of Silla Gyeongdeok (景德王; 723~724–765) was the 35th ruler of Silla and son of Seongdeok of Silla, King Seongdeok (reigned 702–737). He succeeded his elder brother, King Hyoseong, the 34th ruler of Silla. His reign is considered a golden age in ...

), and became kind of a subprefecture under Haman prefecture. The Sinban (新反, 신반) region, then also known as Sinui prefecture (辛尒縣, 신이현), Juo township (朱烏村, 주오촌, directly translated as "town of the red raven") or Cheoncheon prefecture (泉川縣, 천천현, directly translated as the "prefecture of the spring streams"), became the subprefecture in the domains of Gangyang County (江陽郡,강양군, modern day

Hapcheon County Hapcheon County (''Hapcheon-gun'') is a county in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Located in northwestern South Gyeongsang Province, the county is surrounded by Changnyeong as well as Euiryeong to the Southeast, Geochang as well as Sancheo ...

) with the new name "Uisang prefecture" (宜桑縣, 의상현).

Medieval history

In 1018 (under 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 ...

Dynasty), Uiryeong came under the domain of Jinjumok (晋州牧) and a high official called Gammu was appointed in the region in the year 1390. Uisang prefecture initially went through a name change as Sinbeon prefecture, and was part of Hapju, but it became part of the domain of Uiryeong prefecture in 1390. In 1413, the post of Gammu was abolished, and post of hyeongam was dispatched to the region instead. According to statistics during the reign of King Sejong, there were 504 houses in the Uiryeong region, with a population of 1629, and the Sinbeon region had 555 houses with population of AD 982.

Modern history

The region was the center of a

righteous army Righteous armies (), sometimes translated as irregular armies or militias, were informal civilian militias that appeared several times in Korean history, when the national armies were in need of assistance. The first righteous armies emerged d ...

led by general

Gwak Jae-u Kwak Chaeu (; 1552–1617) was a Korean military general from Uiryeong. He was called the "Red Robe General" () after his habit of wearing a coat made of red silk. In 1592, nine days into the Imjin War, he formed a righteous army to fight agains ...

, who rose up as a reaction to the Korean Japanese war of 1592.

19th century

As part of an administrative division change, the region became part of Jinjubu as Uiryeong County in 1895, but it became part of South Gyeongsang province in 1896.

20th century

During the Japanese colonial era, the county was called Ginei and was a part of the now-defunct

Keishōnan Province , alternatively Keishōnan Province or South Keishō Province, was a province of Korea under Japanese rule. Its capital was Busan, Fuzan (Busan). The province consisted of modern-day South Gyeongsang, South Korea. Population Number of peopl ...

. The administrative division changed in 1914, which involved merging Gungryumyeon of Hapcheon County, which made Uiryeong County contain 13 myeons. In March 14, 1919, a protest broke out in Uiryeong myeon, and protest was part of an independence movement. The protest went on for 3 days. In 1938,

Lee Byung-chull Lee Byung-chul (; 12 February 1910 – 19 November 1987) was a South Korean businessman who founded the Samsung Group, the country's largest chaebol ( conglomerate). Lee founded Samsung in 1938, at the age of 28. He is recognized as the most ...

, a resident of Uiryeong, founded

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

in the nearby city of Taikyu (now Daegu). During the Korean War in the 1950s, the region was devastated by Communist attacks. On the evening of 26 April 1982, policeman

Woo Bum-kon During the night from April 26 to April 27, 1982, South Korean policeman Woo Bum-kon murdered 56 people and wounded around 35 others in several villages in Uiryeong County, South Gyeongsang Province, Fifth Republic of Korea, South Korea, before ...

went on a shooting and bombing rampage through several villages in Uiryeong County, killing 56 people and wounding around 35 others in the worst non-terrorist

spree killing A spree killer is someone who commits a criminal act that involves two or more murders in a short time, often in multiple locations. There are different opinions about what durations of time a killing spree may take place in. The United States ...

in history.

Climate

Transportation

Uiryeong has a convenient location as it sits between

Jinju Jinju (; ) is a city in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It was the location of the first (1592) and second (1593) Sieges of Jinju by Japanese forces during the Imjin War. The Republic of Korea Air Force Education and Training Comman ...

to the west and

Haman Haman ( ; also known as Haman the Agagite) is the main antagonist in the Book of Esther, who according to the Hebrew Bible was an official in the court of the Achaemenid Empire, Persian empire under King Ahasuerus#Book of Esther, Ahasuerus, comm ...

Masan Masan () is an administrative region of Changwon, a city of South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It was formerly an independent city from 1949 until 30 June 2010, when it was absorbed to Changwon along with Jinhae District, Jinhae. Masan was ...

Changwon Changwon (; ) is the capital and largest city of South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea (with a population of 1,025,702 ), and the 11th largest city of the South Korea, country. A port city, Changwon is bordered by Masan Bay to the south, and the ...

to the East. A bus runs regularly from the bus terminal in Uiryeong-Eup to all major cities in South Korea. A bus journey to Masan or Jinju takes approximately 35 minutes and 45 minutes respectively from Uiryeong bus terminal, while the journey to

Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...

takes 1 hour. It is also possible to take a bus directly to

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

from Uiryeong. The biggest problem in terms of transportation is that the intercity buses stop running to Uiryeong from the nearby cities fairly early in the evening. The last bus from Busan is 6:40 PM, from Jinju, it's 7:30 PM and from Masan, it's 9:00 PM.

Sister cities

Uiryeong is twinned with: *

Sacheon Sacheon (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Sacheon's chief fame comes from its being the site of two naval battles in the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598), Seven Year War. ...

Muan Muan County () is a county in South Jeolla Province, South Korea. In 2005, Muan County became the capital of South Jeolla following the transfer of the provincial office from its previous location in Gwangju to the village of Namak in Muan. Mu ...

Yongsan-gu Yongsan District (, ) is one of the 25 districts of Seoul, South Korea. It has a population of 231,685 (2020) and has a geographic area of , and is divided into 19 '' dong'' (administrative neighborhoods). Yongsan is located near Downtown Seoul, ...

Uiseong Uiseong County (''Uiseong-gun'') is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, county in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, South Korea. Located near the center of the province, it is bounded by Andong on the north, Cheongsong on the east, Gunwi County o ...

Liaocheng Liaocheng ( zh, s=, p=Liáochéng), is a prefecture-level city in western Shandong province, China. It borders the provincial capital of Jinan to the southeast, Dezhou to the northeast, Tai'an to the south, and the provinces of Hebei and Henan t ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Mandal A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative c ...

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

References

External links

County government website (in English)County government website (in Korean)
{{Coord, 35.3191666767, N, 128.261111121, E, source:ruwiki_region:KR_type:city(32371), format=dms, display=title Counties of South Gyeongsang Province