Okpo City and abandoned amusement park

[racetraitor]

Geoje Island is one of the fastest growing parts of Korea. Its shipbuilding industry surpasses even Busan, and with rumours of an underwater tunnel being built to Japan, this place could one day be a major hub in Korea. One of the larger cities, Okpo, is one of my favourite spots on the peninsula. It is a very modern place with lots of new growth, and plenty of paths along the water. Craziest of all is an abandoned amusement park sitting atop a ridge on the edge of town.



Here is Okpo City from the other side of the harbour.


Down the main street of Okpo, you can find a park and an abandoned amusement park at the very end.


Some hillside farmland.


Taken from the Viking ship of Okpo Land, you can see the city way below.


In the foreground are the skycycle tracks, where it is rumoured one six-year-old girl died in 1999.


The harbour below. In the upper left you can see the ferry to Busan.


The amusement park is very overgrown.






The blue-roofed building is an abandoned swimming pool.




Okpo in the morning.


One of the many hotels newly built in Okpo.


In contrast to Okpo, here's Gujora, a small town about half an hour south.

[princeofseoul]

While Okpo seems to be a very small city, Gujora nonetheless looks like a countryside village. Any population data on these 'cities', racetraitor?

[racetraitor]

Originally Posted by princeofseoul

While Okpo seems to be a very small city, Gujora nonetheless looks like a countryside village. Any population data on these 'cities', racetraitor?

Okpo has about 200 000 and I think it's the second largest town on the island. Gujora obviously is much smaller, as I got the entire village into one shot.

Here's a map of the island showing how many towns there are. Okpo is on the northwest coastline and Gujora is a direct line south of it.
http://www.geojedominbak.net/image/m...je_map_two.gif

I would say the shot of Okpo in the morning is about 70% of the town by contrast.

[princeofseoul]

^ I see.. Yeah, Gujora seemed quite small, like a fisherman's village of some sort.

[silence.kit]

That amusement park is just begging to be in a movie, if it hasn't already been.

Great photos. I'm always curious as to what "small" towns in other countries look like.

[Mussoda]

I'm a little perplexed,..
about the administrative zoning,... Geoje island itself is zoned as A city for now. ; Geoje city,..
and Okpo is just a 'Dong' inside Geoje city.. means,, Okpo-dong, Geoje city.
and thanx, pics.

[princeofseoul]

^ still a dong, not even a gu yet.. Maybe Okpo will grow into a city one day..

[racetraitor]

Originally Posted by princeofseoul

^ still a dong, not even a gu yet.. Maybe Okpo will grow into a city one day..

Do you have a problem with Okpo or something?

[racetraitor]

Originally Posted by Mussoda

I'm a little perplexed,..
about the administrative zoning,... Geoje island itself is zoned as A city for now. ; Geoje city,..
and Okpo is just a 'Dong' inside Geoje city.. means,, Okpo-dong, Geoje city.
and thanx, pics.

Geoje is the name of the island as well as a city on the island. It seems it's sometimes called Gohyeon instead. Okpo and the other cities are contained on Geoje Island but not Geoje City. It's sort of like how Jeju Island has a city called Jeju City, but Seogwipo is a separate city, or how New York State has a city called New York, but cities like Buffalo which are separate cities of their own.

Individually each city and town is quite small, but the island as a single unit has a shipbuilding industry larger than Busan.

[princeofseoul]

Originally Posted by racetraitor

Do you have a problem with Okpo or something?

To put things into perspective, 81% of koreans live in towns or cities that are (much) bigger, and out of the remaining 19% most live in suburbs within a few minutes drive of a major urban area. Okpo is like the bottom 10% of Korea -- the far-away countryside, something which doesn't quite thrill me, frankly. Not that I have something against the countryside, but hey, this is skyscrapercity.com, not fishermantown.com. At the very least, a thread about the Korean countryside and fishing villages should be titled in consequence.

[racetraitor]

Originally Posted by princeofseoul

To put things into perspective, 82% of koreans live in towns or cities that are (much) bigger, and out of the remaining 18% most live in suburbs within a few minutes drive of a major urban area. Okpo is like the bottom 10% of Korea -- the far-away countryside, something which doesn't quite thrill me, frankly. Not that I have something against the countryside, but hey, this is skyscrapercity.com, not fishermantown.com. At the very least, a thread about the Korean countryside and fishing villages should be titled in consequence.

Okpo is a shipbuilding town, not a fishing town, and a very important one at that. It has a very large foreign community, catering largely to the sailors who come through regularly, and if they ever build the tunnel to Japan the whole island will give Busan a run for its money. Sure, most people live in larger cities, but those cities are growing much much slower than Okpo and the rest of the island. This place is worth looking at for anyone thinking about the urbanisation of Korea.

[princeofseoul]

Regardless, as it is, it's a village or a very small town in the countryside without doubt. Okpo is not even listed in my extensive list of Korean cities LOL.

[racetraitor]

Originally Posted by princeofseoul

Regardless, as it is, it's a village or a very small town in the countryside without doubt.

You've got a very distorted sense of countryside. The countryside does not have busy harbours or dozens of highrise apartment projects. It's no more off the beaten track than Suncheon or Yeosu, and in a much more strategic location.

[Mussoda]

Originally Posted by racetraitor

Geoje is the name of the island as well as a city on the island. It seems it's sometimes called Gohyeon instead. Okpo and the other cities are contained on Geoje Island but not Geoje City. It's sort of like how Jeju Island has a city called Jeju City, but Seogwipo is a separate city, or how New York State has a city called New York, but cities like Buffalo which are separate cities of their own.

Individually each city and town is quite small, but the island as a single unit has a shipbuilding industry larger than Busan.

hey, guy..
I guess you often miss real fact throughout your posts.
I never intend to tackle on your thread,, but just wanted to note the fact.
regardless of the notion with island/city, or state/city...
Geoje is just a city, and Okpo is just a Dong inside Geoje city.

this official website will be helpful for you.
http://english.geoje.go.kr/01/04.jsp
thankx.

[racetraitor]

Originally Posted by Mussoda

hey, guy..
I guess you often miss real fact throughout your posts.
I never intend to tackle on your thread,, but just wanted to note the fact.
regardless of the notion with island/city, or state/city...
Geoje is just a city, and Okpo is just a Dong inside Geoje city.

this official website will be helpful for you.
http://english.geoje.go.kr/01/04.jsp
thankx.

No, it's mostly PrinceofSeoul who's being adversarial.

On the island itself, people consider all the different towns and cities to be separate entities. Same with pretty well every unofficial site on the topic. There is empty countryside between all these towns mainly due to the terrain, so geographically they are separate places, and you will find references to 옥포시. Also, Gohyeon is listed as having a population of 207 162 people, while Okpo has 200 000. I think the administrative 동 districts are more arbitrary and ineffective for describing the island's layout.

[dhuwman]

Looks like the entire island is destined to be a tourist destination, with so many beaches and all. Where is the island exactly? SE or SW? What's the economy like? Is it mostly tourist oriented or shipbuilding?

[racetraitor]

Originally Posted by dhuwman

Looks like the entire island is destined to be a tourist destination, with so many beaches and all. Where is the island exactly? SE or SW? What's the economy like? Is it mostly tourist oriented or shipbuilding?

It's southeast, just below Busan. Ferries from Busan to Okpo and Jangseungpo take about 45 minutes. There's not much in the way of tourism, especially compared to Jeju, but there are a large amount of businesses set up to take care of all the foreigners who work on the port and shipyards.

[princeofseoul]

Racetraitor, I do apologize if I may have seemed 'adversarial' since this was certainly not my intent. I only correct what I perceive to be misleading or inaccurate. I found your posts made it seem like Geoje(including Okdo) is an important urban area in Korea. As far as I'm concerned, it's not even close to that: it's a very small pocket of urbanization in the countryside with a level of urbanism well behind what most koreans experience on a daily basis. What I perceive as another misleading statement in your post is with respect to the growth of the city which you made seem as quite high. I cannot find evidence of this. The numbers I have show that Geoje grew by 44% from 1990 to 2007. Lots of other korean cities grew more than this since 1990. As an example, Gimhae nearby grew 99% in the same period.

[racetraitor]

Originally Posted by princeofseoul

Racetraitor, I do apologize if I may have seemed 'adversarial' since this was certainly not my intent. I only correct what I perceive to be misleading or inaccurate. I found your posts made it seem like Geoje(including Okdo) is an important urban area in Korea. As far as I'm concerned, it's not even close to that: it's a very small pocket of urbanization in the countryside with a level of urbanism well behind what most koreans experience on a daily basis. What I perceive as another misleading statement in your post is with respect to the growth of the city which you made seem as quite high. I cannot find evidence of this. The numbers I have show that Geoje grew by 44% from 1990 to 2007. Lots of other korean cities grew more than this since 1990. As an example, Gimhae nearby grew 99% in the same period.

I would say that it is a future important urban area. Urbanisation is more interesting to me when it's in transit than when it's reached its end goal. Most of the highrises in the photos were constructed in the last five years, or are still incomplete. Okpo and Gohyun are very dense urban pockets not too different from what you'd find in a busy corner of Suwon, with most of the same amenities including large hotel district. Okpo lacked western fast food franchises, but reportedly has over 50 foreign-catering bars and restaurants. I think in the future either Gohyun or Okpo will absorb the other, depending on whose shipyards rake in the most business.

To be honest, my main interest in the island is the abandoned amusement park.

[Foda]

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