Gyodongdo Island

Gyodongdo lies northwest of Ganghwado Island, just 2.6 km from North Korean territory in Hwanghae Province. Daeryong Market, built by refugees from the Korean War in the image of the market they had left behind, the walls of Gyodong Eupseong from the Joseon navy's command post, and the place where Prince Yeonsan lived out his exile all sit on one island, which has long been called "the island where time stopped". Since Gyodong Bridge opened in 2014, you can reach it by bus or car.

From maritime crossroads to island of exile

Gyodongdo sits where the Jogang, the estuary formed by the Han and Imjin rivers, meets the mouth of the Yeseong River. Under Goguryeo it was called Gomokgeun-hyeon and under Silla's King Gyeongdeok Gyodong-hyeon. On the sea route to Gaeseong and Hanyang (Seoul), it was a stopover for envoys heading to China, and in the Joseon era it housed the Tongeoyeong, the naval headquarters commanding the fleets of Gyeonggi, Hwanghae and Chungcheong provinces. Close to the capital yet cut off by the sea, it was a favourite place to exile members of the royal family: both Prince Yeonsan and Prince Gwanghae, deposed kings, were sent here, and Yeonsan died on the island.

Gyodongdo was originally an archipelago of three main islands and several islets. Land reclamation that began in the Goryeo period joined them into the island you see today. During the Korean War some 30,000 people from the North fled here by boat, and after the war the border island became a civilian control zone.

What to see

• Daeryong Market: when refugees from Yeonbaek in Hwanghae Province realised after the armistice that they could not go home, they built this alley market modelled on the Yeonbaek market they remembered. Murals and sculptures line the old shopfronts, and refugees and their descendants still live nearby.
• Gyodong Eupseong: a town wall first built in 1629, with gate towers on the east, south and north. Today only the arched stone gateway of the south gate remains; its tower collapsed in a storm in 1921.
• Gyodong Hyanggyo: a Confucian school said to have been founded in 1127 under the Goryeo king Injong. Tradition holds that it was the first place to enshrine the portrait of Confucius that the scholar An Hyang brought back from Yuan China in 1286.
• Prince Yeonsan's place of exile: an exhibition hall recreates scenes such as the deposed king arriving by ox cart and explains the types of exile punishment and the island's history as a place of banishment.
• Manghyangdae: on Yuldusan in the northwest of the island, refugees hold memorial rites while looking towards their home villages. Binoculars let you see North Korean villages across the water.
• Hwagae Garden and Hwagaesan Observatory: registered in 2023 as Incheon's first regional garden. From the skywalk-style observatory, shaped like a black-faced spoonbill, you can see the Yeonbaek Plain in North Korea about 7 km away and the islands of Ganghwa; a monorail runs up the hill.

Good to know

Many houses on Gyodongdo have swallows' nests under the eaves. The refugees came to see the swallows, flying freely between North and South, as guests from home, which is why the island's tourist information space is called Gyodong Swallow House. At Gyodong Studio, a photo studio run by Daeryong village, you can borrow 1960s and 1970s school uniforms and pose for black-and-white portraits.

Tripto tips

• Getting there: bus 18 from Ganghwa Bus Terminal crosses Gyodong Bridge to the island. You can also drive.
• ID: Gyodongdo is a border island inside the civilian control zone. Anyone may visit today, but bring ID (a passport for foreign visitors).
• Hwagae Garden: weekdays 08:00–19:00 (last entry 18:00), weekends and holidays 08:00–20:00 (last entry 19:00). Admission is KRW 5,000 for adults and KRW 3,000 for children, teenagers and seniors; the monorail costs KRW 14,000 return.
• Photography: do not photograph coastal guard posts or military facilities.
• Time needed: half a day for Daeryong Market, the town wall, the Confucian school and Hwagae Garden. It combines well with a day on Ganghwado.