Haean is a township ('' myeon'') in Yanggu County, Gangwon-do,

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 ...

. Haean sits in the distinctive Haean Basin (해안분지), which was nicknamed The Punchbowl by UN forces during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. The northern part of the basin lies within the

Demilitarized Zone A demilitarized zone (DMZ or DZ) is an area in which treaties or agreements between nations, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities, or personnel. A DZ often lies along an established frontier or bounda ...

, and the area saw heavy fighting during the war.

Geography

The mountain Daeamsan (1304 m) is on the southern border of Haean Myeon. The central region of the basin is composed of

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

granite, with a pre-Cambrian metamorphic complex towards the edge. The basin may have been formed by differential weathering of the rock.

Economy

Farms within Haean produce potatoes, green vegetables, and lilies.

History

During the

Koryo Dynasty Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificati ...

Haean was known as Beonhwa (번화). It was renamed to Haean in 1885.

Korean War

As Haean lies north of the 38th parallel, it was controlled by North Korea before the start of the war. The North Korean army based artillery in the protection of the valley, making its capture an important objective for the UN forces. The Republic of Korea Army and the US Eighth Army captured the basin in the

Battle of the Punchbowl The Battle of the Punchbowl ( ko, 펀치볼 전투), was one of the last battles of the movement phase of the Korean War. Following the breakdown of armistice negotiations in August 1951, the United Nations Command (UN) decided to launch a limit ...

on August 27, 1951.

Fourth tunnel

The fourth "tunnel of aggression" was discovered on March 3, 1990, in the northern part of Haean Myeon, which borders North Korean territory. It is a deep tunnel dug from the northern side within the demilitarized zone, passing under the armistice line. Three similar tunnels were found between 1974 and 1978, all farther west and closer to the South Korean capital,

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

. The tunnel was found at a depth of 145 m and was explored through a borehole and a countertunnel, since the tunnel was incomplete and did not yet have an entrance on the southern side. The tunnel is estimated to be over a mile long and to extend at least 4000 feet on the southern side of the demarcation line. South Korea alleged that the North Korean military dug the tunnel in preparation for an invasion of the South, violating the terms of the cease-fire agreement of 1953.

Culture

Haean hosts the Yanggu War Memorial Museum, which opened in 2000, and the Eulji Unification Observatory. The

Greetingman ''Greetingman'' ( ko, 그리팅맨) is a modern sculpture project in South Korea. Its main artist is Yoo Young-ho (South Korean sculptor). The concept provides a man, 6 meters high, bowing in a typically Asian greeting gesture. The blue color means ...

sculpture by artist

Yoo Young-ho Yoo Young-ho ( ko, 유영호, born 1965) is a South Korean sculptor. Career He graduated in 1991 from the College of Fine Arts, Seoul National University. Later he studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in Germany. One of his sculptures is ...

was unveiled in Haean in 2013.

External links

*{{baekgwa, empas_b=206051, empas_m=no, naver=187803}
Places In Korea: Northern Gangwon-do’s PunchbowlWikimapia

References

Korean War Towns and townships in Gangwon Province, South Korea Yanggu County, Gangwon