Famous people from Gochang include the 20th-century poet Midang.
The temple of Seonunsa is also located in Gochang.
|• Revised Romanization||Gochang-gun|
Emblem of Gochang
Location in South Korea
|Administrative divisions||1 eup, 13 myeon|
|• Total||606.90 km2 (234.33 sq mi)|
|• Density||100/km2 (260/sq mi)|
Gochang is the town with most dolmen sites in Korea. Some of the dolmens in Dosan-ri, Sanggap-ri and Maesan-ri are of the southern style, whereas most of those in the rest of North Jeolla-do Province are of the northern style. This proves that a wide scope of culture existed in the town in the prehistoric times.
Gochang is where Morobiri, one of the 54 small countries during the ancient Mahan Period was located. The town was called Moryangburi-hyeon or Moryang-hyeon in the Baekje Period, then renamed as Gochanghyun in the United Kingdom of Shilla.
When it comes to the town's famous spots the first things that come to mind are Seonunsa or Seonun Temple and the Gochangeupseong Fortress. Seonunsa Temple is one of the leading Buddhist temples in North Jeolla-do Province. It is not only famous for camellias but also has quite a few Buddhist treasures such as Daeungjeon or the main building and the statue of a Buddhist saint named Jijang.
Meanwhile, Gochangeupseong Fortress is the best-preserved fortress in the country. Built in the early days of the Joseon Dynasty to protect the town against Japanese invaders, the fortress has carried on the tradition of stepping on the ground of the fortress. A town named Mujang in Seongnae-ri, Mujang-myeon, also has a fortress. The south gate and mud rampart of the Mujang Town Fortress are in their original form.
Part of Shin Jae Hyo's house remains near a pavilion called Gongbungnu within the Gochang Fortress. Gochang has relics of Dongjae all over a town called Ogari Dangsan, Sadong, Gosu-myeon, which used to be a home for the production of ceramics from celadon porcelains of the Goryeo Dynasty to white porcelains of the Chosun Dynasty and throughout the Japanese colonial period. Sudong-ri, Buan-myeon has a bunching production site. This is a specific type of porcelain. This place has been designated as a historic site as well. Bongan-ri, Buan-myeon has Kim Seong Su's house. The design is a typical house of wealthy families in the region.
Gochang Moyang Fortress Festival
Gochang-eup Fortress (Moyang Fortress) was built to prevent invasion from other countries in the first year of King Danjong’s reign during the Joseon Dynasty(1453) with the cooperation of the people of 21 towns (hyeon) in then Jeolla-do and Jeju-do. This is the natural stone fortress whose prototype has been preserved the best condition in Korea.
Among many legends and customs related with the construction of Moyang Fortress, the most famous one is Dapseong folklore game. People walk along the 1,684m-long fortress with a palm-sized stone on head. It was based on our ancestor’s wisdom that walking around the fortress makes the ground stronger and can be used in emergency situations. It has been said that you can heal your leg illness for one round of walking around the fortress, live healthy and long for two rounds and go to the heaven for three rounds. Every year many people participate in the folklore game.
Green Barley Field Festival
The Green Barley Field Festival is held at Hagwon Farm in Gongeum-myeon, Gochang-gun from mid-April to mid-May every year.
The vast and beautiful barley field has become widely known among photographers and travelers. The increasing number of tourists to the place requires the administration to be involved to keep order, address inconveniences and introduce the local culture. Such necessity made the local people and the Gochang-gun Office go into negotiation to host the festival since 2004.
It is the first barley-themed scenic agricultural festival on a low hill. The beautiful landscape created by the barley field attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.
Visitors can have various experiences including walking in the barley field, making traditional food with barley, making barley flute and folk play such as walking on a rope, tuho and Korean jumping.
Visitors can taste barley-based boiled rice, rice cake, traditional snack and pepper paste and enjoy various cultural performances and traditional performances. During the festival, exhibitions including international scenic agricultural photo exhibition and international academic conventions on tourism and agriculture are held. And along with barley, special products of Gochang such as mountain berry are traded in the festival.
Mountain Berry and Watermelon Festival
Gochang hosts mountain berry and watermelon festival in mid June every year so that visitors can buy quality products at an inexpensive prices and enjoy various things to eat and see. During the festival period, visitors can get a special discount for mountain berry and watermelon. Visitors can taste various products such as mountain berry beverage and liquor, processed mountain berry foods such as traditional snack and jelly and watermelon salads. And they can enjoy various experience programs such as Korean chamber pot curling, mountain berry archery and watermelon shooting.
Also, the festival also includes Pungcheon Eel tasting which has a great match with mountain berry liquor and Pungcheon Eel catching, making the festival more fun and exciting.
Gochang is twinned with:
Ahn Gyu-baek (Korean: 안규백; Hanja: 安圭伯; born 29 April 1961) is a South Korean politician in the liberal Minjoo Party of Korea. He has been a member of the National Assembly for Dongdaemun, Seoul, since 2012, and previously served as a party list member from 2008 to 2012.
Ahn was appointed deputy floor leader of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, the Minjoo Party's predecessor, on 12 October 2014, and remained in that position for seven months. He was praised by his Saenuri Party counterpart, Cho Hae-jin, who described him as having an "honest and upright" character and "always thinking of his country first". He subsequently became head of strategy and public relations for the NPAD on 23 June 2015.A ranking member of the Assembly's National Defense Committee, Ahn has been a critic of South Korea's defense policy. In 2011 he stated that draft-dodging had doubled under the Lee Myung-bak administration, and at the end of 2015 he attacked Park Geun-hye's government for signing an intelligence cooperation agreement with Japan and the United States, stating that "it is against all reason to give [Korea's] advanced information" to Japan given its colonial history in the peninsula and continuing territorial claims over the Liancourt Rocks. In June 2015, he introduced a bill to honor the veterans of the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong, an armed confrontation with North Korea that had taken place in 2002.Born in Gochang County in North Jeolla, Ahn attended high school in Gwangju, and studied Eastern philosophy at Sungkyunkwan University as an undergraduate before earning a master's degree at the university's Department of Commerce and Trade.Bokbunja-ju
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Kim Hae-sun (born on May 6, 1969 in North Jeolla Province, Gochang County – September 27, 2001) was a South Korean serial killer and rapist who killed three minors in 2000. He also attempted to rape and kill another high school student, but the attempted was halted.Kim Seon-il
Kim Seon-il, sometimes spelled as Kim Sun-il (born 11 June 1985) is a South Korean football defender.
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Lim Jong-In (born August 28, 1956 in Gochang County, North Jeolla) is a politician and a lawyer. Lim took undergraduate bachelor's degree of laws at Korea University
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