Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The relationship between South Korea's western provinces and the rest of the country hasn't
always been a harmonious one. The region's fish-rich waters and fertile emerald plains
made it the nation's primary breadbasket, but its slower, heavily agricultural way of life
caused it to be viewed as something of a backwater by the more industrious commerce-
minded capital and eastern provinces. This meant the west was frequently an afterthought,
or neglected outright, in national development drives, and it was not until quite recently that
South Koreans managed to elect a native of the region to the country's highest office. Not
surprisingly, there's a streak of resentment in this part of South Korea that has occasionally
boiled over into serious incidents, such as a 1980 revolt in Gwangju against the then-ruling
dictatorship.
These days, however, the rivalry between the west and the rest of the country is a low-
level affair, confined to competition for investment or the sports arena—perhaps because
the region has become a force in its own right. Agriculture is still an essential industry,
but boomtowns like Daejeon and Gwangju have become centers of far more cutting-edge
trades, including biotechnology, robotics, and the arts.
The fact that much of the region escaped the industrialization that gripped the rest of
South Korea in the 1970s and 1980s means pockets are less prosperous than the national
average, but also that more of its landscape and traditions have been left intact. This has
made the west fertile ground for foreign residents with a serious interest in Korean culture
and the arts, and it continues to produce more celebrated writers, painters, and sculptors
per capita than anywhere else in the country. On the whole it's more conservative and less
outward-looking than the Seoul area or the heavily trafficked ports of the southeast, and
anyone looking for the cosmopolitan shades or pulse-pounding excitement of those kinds of
places is bound to be disappointed here. But those who see leisurely living as more import-
ant or who crave rural scenery, fresh produce—even Seoulites are forced to admit this area
has the country's best food—and frank, friendly people, or who simply want a less adulter-
ated Korean experience, should give the west serious consideration.
