Pyeonghae is a South Korean

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

. It is administered as part of

Uljin Uljin County (''Uljin-gun''; Korean: 울진군) is a county in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Before 1963, Uljin was in Gangwon Province. It borders the Sea of Japan in the east, Bonghwa-gun and Yeongyang-gun in the west, Yeongdeok-gun i ...

County A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

North Gyeongsang North Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상북도, translit=Gyeongsangbuk-do, ) is a province in eastern South Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the northern half of the former Gyeongsang province, and remained a province of Korea until the ...

Province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

Name

Pyeonghae's name means "Peaceful Sea(s)". It appears in 19th-century sources as "Pingai", "Pingai Harbor", and "Ping-hai Harbor"..

Geography

Pyeonghae lies on the north bank of the Namdae (, "Southern Great River"), about a mile inland from its confluence with 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 ...

on the eastern shore of the

Korean Peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. Its harbor was formed by a conical island, which sheltered an anchorage in the Namdae estuary.

History

During the 19th century, Pyeonghae was reckoned one of the primary harbors on

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

's eastern shore. Pyeonghae

Village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

(Pyeonghae-ri) was officially promoted to

town status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose. Historically, city status ...

on 1 December 1980.

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