Ongjin County, Incheon

Ongjin 옹진군
County
Korean transcription(s)
• Hanja
• Revised Romanization	Ongjin-gun
• McCune-Reischauer	Ongjin-kun
Janggyeong Beach on Yeongheung Island
Logo
Divisions of Ongjin are numbered
Country	South Korea
Region	Sudogwon
Provincial level	Incheon
Administrative divisions	7 myeon
Area
• Total	164.14 km2 (63.37 sq mi)
Population
• Dialect	Seoul
Website	Ongjin County Office

Ongjin County is a county in Incheon Metropolitan City, South Korea. It consists of a group of islands in the Yellow Sea (West Sea).

Four of the islands, Yeonpyeong Island, Baengnyeong, Daecheong, and Socheong Islands, are very near the Northern Limit Line. They are close to the Ongjin Peninsula of South Hwanghae Province in North Korea, at a considerable distance from the nearest part of the South Korean mainland. These islands are popular destinations for tourism. In historical contexts these three islands and their smaller neighbors are sometimes known as the Sir James Hall Group after Sir James Hall, whose son Basil Hall was an early Western visitor to Korea.

Once a part of the Lolang district of the Han Empire before the 4th century, this area was known as Ongcheon during the Three Kingdoms period. It was bestowed with the name in use today - Ongjin - during the reign of King Taejo of Goryeo, the founder of the Goryeo Dynasty. Then in 1018, during the 9th year of King Hyeonjong's reign over Goryeo, the county was established as one of the major administrative divisions in the heartland of the kingdom.

The Ongjin County seat is located outside of the county itself, in Nam-gu, Incheon. There is also an Ongjin County in South Hwanghae Province, North Korea. This chain of islands was originally a part of South Hwanghae province before the Partition of Korea in 1948.