Suncheon, Jeonnam

Suncheon 순천시
Municipal City
Korean transcription(s)
• Hangul
• Hanja
• Revised Romanization	Suncheon-si
• McCune–Reischauer	Sunch'ŏn-si
Photograph of Suncheon bay and reed fields in October, 2008.
Emblem of Suncheon
Location in South Korea
Country	South Korea
Region	Honam
Administrative divisions	1 eup, 10 myeon, 12 dong
Area
• Total	907.21 km2 (350.28 sq mi)
Population (2016)
• Total	279,435
• Density	298/km2 (770/sq mi)
• Dialect	Jeolla

Suncheon (Korean pronunciation: [sun.tɕʰʌn]) (Suncheon-si) is a city in South Jeolla Province, South Korea. It is a scenic agricultural and industrial city of around 250,000 people near Suncheon Bay. It is located in the southeastern corner of Jeollanam-do, just over an hour south-east of Gwangju. Forty minutes south of Suncheon is the port city of Yeosu, and twenty minutes to the east of Suncheon is Gwangyang. It is currently experiencing strong development due to being included as part of the Gwangyang Bay Free Economic Zone, one of three newly created Free Economic Zones (FEZs) in South Korea due to open within the next decade. As of October 14, 2007 plans are being set up and a referendum is being planned for a merging of the cities of Yeosu, Suncheon and Gwangyang into a new metropolitan city, taking advantage of the Gwangyang Bay Free Economic Zone, Yeosu's Expo 2012 bid and port facilities, Suncheon's educational institutes and Gwangyang's POSCO plant. [1]

In October 1948, a rebellion swept Yeosu, Suncheon, and nearby towns, when South Korean soldiers refused to take part in the suppression of the ongoing Jeju uprising. The rebel forces killed a number of ROK soldiers, police, officials, and landlords. A couple days later, the rebellion was crushed by the South Korean military. Civilians thought to have aided the rebellion were also summarily executed.

On its website, Suncheon is dubbed by its city council as the City of Beautiful People, and its slogan is "Aha! Suncheon." [2]

Suncheon is twinned with: