Daejeon

Human beings first settled in the Daejeon region during the Stone Age. It was occupied and in use as strategic military ground in various times by people such as the Usul-gun of Baekje, Bipung-gun of Silla, and the Hoideok-hyeon, Yuseong-hyeon, Deokjin-hyeon, and Jinjam-hyeon. During the Joseon Kingdom period, it remained occupied by the Hoideok-hyeon and Jinjam-hyeon of Gongju Mokha. In 1895, most of the area was made part of Hoideok-gun and Jinjam-gun, excluding some parts that belonged to Gongju-gun.

The Daejeon area was historically known as Hanbat (한밭),[14] a native Korean term for "large field", during the Joseon Dynasty. "Daejeon" simply means the same thing in Hanja. In the 19th century, Daejeon was also known in English as Kung-tsiou.[15]

Historically, Daejeon was a small village without many residents. However, in 1905, the Gyeongbu Railway began operations from Seoul to Busan, opening a station at Daejeon. In 1926 under the rule of the Japanese government, the Honam Railway was built between Mokpo and Daejeon, transforming the latter into a major transportation hub. Because of its location and proximity to means of transportation, Daejeon grew quickly.[9]

Eunhaeng-Sunhwa neighborhood (Kasuga-Cho), c. 1920

As railroads were laid under Japanese rule, an environment friendly to the Japanese was created, and many Japanese began to settle in Daejeon taking advantage of the opportunity. According to 1910 census data, 58%, or more than half of the 4,350 Daejeon population at the time, were Japanese. In 1925, 56% of the 8,861 people in Daejeon were Japanese. Therefore, Daejeon was one of the cities with great cultural influence of Japanese residents. For example, elderly people who experienced Japanese colonial era pronounce '단무지' (Pickled radish, danmuji) as '닥광/단광'(dakgwang/dangwang), '컵' (cup, keob) as '고뿌' (goffu) and '비닐' (vinyl, binil) as '비니루' (binilu). In addition, '우에시다리' (Uesidari), a representative team division game in Daejeon, was also created at this time and is believed to have been derived from the Japanese word '上(うえ, Ue)' meaning 'up' and the Japanese word '下(した, sita)' meaning 'down'.[16]

Emblem of Taidenfu (Daejeonbu), the administrative division that existed during Japanese rule of Daejeon

In 1932, the capital of South Chungcheong Province was moved from Gongju to Daejeon. During the Korean War, the city was the site of an early major conflict: the Battle of Taejon. Also during the war, the mass graves of civilians killed by South Korean police were discovered near Taejon and reported on by Alan Winnington in his famous anti-war leaflet "I Saw Truth in Korea".[17][18] Embarrassed by the contents of the leaflet, the British government considered having him executed for treason, though instead decided to make him stateless.[19][20]

Since then, changes have been made to the city's boundaries. Its official names have evolved, as well. Among the boundary modifications include one that effectively made the nearby town of Daedeok a part of the city in 1983. Then, in the late 1980s, Daejeon was elevated to the status of Special City (Jikhalsi), thus became a separate administrative region from South Chungcheong Province. In 1995, all South Korean Special Cities were again renamed as Metropolitan Cities, which is reflected in the current official name of Daejeon, Daejeon Metropolitan City (대전광역시).[12]

In the 1980s, the Korean administration began moving various national government operations from Seoul to Daejeon, eventually opening the Daejeon Government Complex in 1997. Today, the national government offices in Daejeon include Korea Customs Service, Small and Medium Business Administration, Public Procurement Service, National Statistical Office, Military Manpower Administration, Korea Forest Service, Cultural Heritage Administration, Korean Intellectual Property Office, Korail, Korea Water Resources Corporation, Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation and Patent Court of Korea.

The population of Daejeon increased dramatically as a result of the government center.[21] However, with the construction of Sejong Special Self-Governing City in 2013 for the division of capital functions and balanced local development, many of the public institutions that had previously headed to Daejeon were moved to Sejong, and many public institutions in Seoul were also moved to Sejong. With the launch of Sejong City, large-scale development began, resulting in infrastructure construction and large-scale apartment complexes. Sejong is located immediately north of Daejeon, and Daejeon citizens began to outflow to Sejong. As of July 2020, there was net outflow of more than 100,000 people from Daejeon to Sejong.

Walking path along the Gap River

Daejeon lies between latitudes N36°10'59" and N36°30'1" and longitudes E127°14'48" and E127°33'35" near the middle of South Korea. It is 167.3 km (104.0 mi) from Seoul, 294 km (183 mi) from Busan and 169 km (105 mi) from Gwangju.

Known historically as 'big field,' the city lies inside a great circle surrounded by several mountains, with Gyeryongsan National Park straddling the city border on the west, and the foot of the Sobaek Mountain range just beyond the city to the south and east. Three rivers run through the center of the city: Gapcheon (갑천), Yudeungcheon (유등천), and Daejeoncheon (대전천). These flow roughly from south to north, eventually joining the Geum River which borders the city on the northeast. The river changes direction after leaving Daejeon, turning to the southwest and eventually emptying into the Yellow Sea near Gunsan.[22]

Administrative divisions of Daejeon

Daejeon is divided into five political "gu" or "districts": Seogu (서구), Donggu (동구), Yuseonggu (유성구), Daedeokgu (대덕구), and Junggu (중구).[28]

People take a foot bath at an outdoor public hot spring in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, Korea

Daejeon is the fifth most populous city in Korea, with 1,467,468 registered residents as of 2023. The most populous district is Seo District (473,851 residents), although the district lost 32,219 residents since 2006, it remains the most densely populated in the city at 4,960 inhabitants per square kilometer (4,960/km2).[29]

As of 2023, the number of registered foreign residents in Daejeon was 21,949 (1.5% of the total population) with the largest representations being Vietnamese (0.5%), and Chinese or Korean-Chinese (0.2%). There are also smaller numbers of registered residents (0.1% or less in each case) from Uzbekistan, Mongolia, United States, Philippines, Indonesia, India, Japan, Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal, Taiwan, Pakistan, Russia, France, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and Turkey.[30][29]

Plot of population numbers

There are 23 universities and colleges in Daejeon, concurrently enrolling around 90,000 students and employing 4,000 professors.[32]

Major public universities in Daejeon include:

• Chungnam National University, a major national university established for the South Chungcheong province. Chungnam National University brings expertise in biotechnology, medicine, and the agricultural sciences.
• Daejeon Chungnam University, a campus in the four-year Korea National Open University system.
• Hanbat National University, founded in 1927, specializing in partnerships between industry and academia.
• Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), the nation's first public research-oriented science and engineering institution. The university was ranked as the best Asian science and technology school by Asiaweek in 2000.[33] Strong fields at KAIST include computer science, electrical and nuclear engineering, mechanical design, chemistry, and telecommunications.

Chungnam University Law School Building

KAIST Campus

Major private universities in Daejeon include:

• Mokwon University
• Pai Chai University, founded in 1885, one of the oldest private universities in South Korea.
• Woosong University, specialized curriculum based on international exchange, foreign-language, and IT education.
• Hannam University, founded in 1956 by Christian missionaries, with a main campus in O-Jeong Dong (site of the historic Missionary Village), and a branch campus is in Techno Valley.

Specialized high schools and academies include:

• Daejeon Foreign Language High School is a selective high school focusing on teaching of foreign language. The school provides language education of 7 majors including English, German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and Russian.
• Daejeon Science High School is a selective high school focused on teaching science.[34]
• Taejon Christian International School is an international school in the city.

Daejeon is known as the research and development hub of Korea. In addition to KAIST and the Institute for Basic Science, it is home to more than 20 other government research institutions, and various corporate research centers, mostly located around Daedeok Innopolis in Yuseong District north of the Gapcheon river.[35][36]

Fields of research undertaken in Daejeon include telecommunications, nanofabrication, biotechnology, water, nuclear and hydro power, nuclear fusion, design, measurement technologies, mechanical engineering, fuel cells, aeronautics, new materials, robotics, new drugs, and environmental technologies. Daedeok Innopolis' membership includes 898 corporations, 35 government-invested and sponsored institutions; six universities, and 15 public organizations.

KAIST Campus

Research institutes in Daedeok include the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), Electronic and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), Korea Fusion Energy Research Institute (KFERI), National Nanofab Center, Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI), Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM), Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI), Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS), Marine and Ocean Engineering Research Institute, Institute of Information Technology Advancement (IITA), Korea Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources, Agency for Defense Development (ADD), Korea Institute of Toxicology (KIT), Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Korea Institute of Nuclear Non-proliferation and Control, National Institute for Mathematical Sciences (NIMS), Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS), Rare Isotope Science Project (RISP), National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), and the National Security Research Institute. Among the technology produced in Daedeok are ETRI's wireless communications systems CDMA, WIBRO, and DMB, KRIBB's nano biochips, KARI's KOMPSAT satellites, and NFRI's KSTAR nuclear fusion experimental reactor.[37]

Daedeok is also home to 21 corporate research centers with global reach surrounded by an equal number of smaller firms. Some of the notable corporate research centers are Dongbu Advanced Research Institute (biotechnology, microorganisms and agrichemicals), GS-Caltex Value Creation Center (environmentally friendly products including substitutes for oil), Hanwha Chemical Research (biotechnology, electronics materials, catalysts, and nanotechnology), Honam Petrochemical Daeduk Research Institute (synthetic chemistry and petrochemicals), LG Chemical LTD. Research Park (lithium ion battery and polymer battery development), Samyang R&D Center (medical research and electronics), and SK Institute of Technology (petroleum-related research).

Public corporation research institutes such as Korea Electric Power Research Institute (hydroelectric projects and nuclear energy), Korea Institute of Construction Materials (authorized test agency for construction materials), and Korea Institute of Aerospace Technology (aerospace design, satellites, launch technologies) are also part of the Daedeok system.

On 16 May 2013, Daejeon was selected as the core of the International Science and Business Belt. [38]

Besides a tire production facility, Hankook Tire has its main R&D centre in Daejeon.[39]

Daejeon World Cup Stadium

Daejeon is home to multiple professional teams and national and internationally active sports facilities. The Daejeon World Cup Stadium was constructed for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, hosting several games including the South Korea vs. Italy match in the round of 16.[57] The facility is now the home of the city's football club. The Daejeon Hanbat Sports Complex was built in 1964, and was one of the host sites of the 1986 Asian Games, and also hosted preliminaries during the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. Today, with several of the facilities renovated, it hosts the city's professional baseball, K3 League football, and volleyball teams. The city is also home to LPGA golfers Pak Se-ri and Jang Jeong, and is the hometown of former New York Mets left-handed reliever Dae-sung Koo.

Baseball

Daejeon Hanbat Baseball Stadium

The Hanwha Eagles of the KBO League were founded in Daejeon in 1985. They play home games at the Daejeon Hanbat Baseball Stadium, built in Busa-dong in 1964, with an iconic view of Bomunsan mountain in the outfield. The stadium was renovated and expanded in 2013, moving the outfield wall and expanding seating to 13,000.[58]

Daejeon Station

Daejeon is a center of transportation in South Korea, where two major expressways, Gyeongbu Expressway and Honam Expressway Branch, and two major railway lines, Gyeongbu railway and Honam railway, are joined. Travel time between Daejeon and Seoul using the KTX high-speed rail system is about 50 minutes. The nearest airport to Daejeon is Cheongju Airport, about a thirty-minute drive north of Daejeon. However, there are also direct bus connections to Incheon International Airport.

Subway

Main article: Daejeon Metro

Tashu, the public bicycle of Daejeon

One line, Daejeon Subway Line 1, of a planned five-line subway system has been operating since 17 April 2007 (partial operations on this line began on 16 March 2006). This subway line connects Daejeon Station, located in the original city center, with the more modern and more recently developed sections of this city, including Dunsan, where the city hall and a number of national government buildings are located.

Notable differences between the Daejeon subway and the Seoul subway include narrower cars, no doors connecting cars, four cars per train rather than ten, and storage space under the seats for use by passengers.[59] Originally, plastic tokens for toll were read by a proximity sensor when entering the turnstiles, and then inserted into a slot when exiting. The design of the tokens allowed them to be used for advertising.[60] The system now employs the T-money system, a rechargeable series of Smart cards and other "smart" devices used for paying transportation fares. Platform screen doors are installed in the subway stations.

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  South Chuncheong Provincial Office in 1920s
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  Government offices for the South Chungcheong province in 2007
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  Daejeon Station in 1920s
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  Daejeon train station in 2007
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  Daejeon O-World
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  Uam Historic Park
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  Pyeongsong Youth Cultural Center and blocks of flats of Dunsan-dong district from Lotte City Hotel Daejeon in 2020
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  Mokcheok Bridge
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  Immigration office
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  View of Daejeon from Sikjang Mountain, with Dong-gu in the foreground

• List of cities in South Korea

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
대전광역시 (category)

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Daejeon.

• Official website (in English)
• Daejeon: Official site of Korea Tourism Org. (archived)