Jagalchi Market

Jagalchi Market stretches along the waterfront of Busan's South Port, between Nampo-dong and Chungmu-dong in Jung-gu. Selling live and fresh fish, shellfish and dried seafood, it is counted among Korea's largest seafood markets and has become one of Busan's signature sights. In the narrow sense the name refers to the modern market building on the water; more broadly it covers the whole run of markets and street stalls from the dried-fish market near Yeongdo Bridge to the Chungmu-dong dawn market.

History: a market born on the street

One explanation of the name is that the area was once a pebbly shore (jagal means gravel). After liberation in 1945, people returning from Japan and elsewhere set up stalls on the beach, and the market grew rapidly during the Korean War as refugees poured into Busan. Most of those selling fish to support their families were women, and the name they were given, "Jagalchi ajimae", is still used as a symbol of the resilience of Busan's women.

The first three-storey market building went up in 1970. Today's modernised building was built in 2003–2006; the three wings of the seven-storey structure represent a seagull leaping, soaring and gliding.

What to see

• Ground-floor fish market: tanks full of flatfish, abalone, sea squirts and octopus, with vendors happy to explain how each is prepared.
• First-floor raw-fish restaurants: buy your fish downstairs and have it served upstairs as sashimi or spicy fish stew. Restaurants usually charge a separate table fee.
• Street stalls by the water: outside the building, vendors still lay out mackerel and sea squirts on wooden crates along the road and the shore.
• Grilled eel and tripe alleys: after big fires in the 1950s, food stalls using open flames were moved to the waterfront, and grilled hagfish (kkomjangeo) and beef-tripe restaurants clustered around the market.

Good to know

• The Busan Jagalchi Festival, first held in 1992 as a seafood festival, takes place every autumn. Its slogan, in Busan dialect, is "Oiso, boiso, saiso" (Come, see, buy).
• Since 1970, the market's traders have held an annual rite to the Dragon King in the first lunar month, praying for a good year.

How the market works

Around the South Port, Jagalchi sits alongside the Busan Cooperative Fish Market, fisheries cooperative auction halls, Sindonga Market and the Jagalchi dried-fish market. The Cooperative Fish Market is a wholesale landing market that auctions catches and ships them nationwide, while Jagalchi is a consumer market selling to Busan's restaurants, shops and shoppers. It handles fish from the waters off Busan, Geoje and Tongyeong as well as deep-sea catches and imported and farmed seafood.

The roots go deeper still. After Busan port opened, Japanese capital moved into fishing and fish distribution and a modern fish market grew up; in 1935 the city opened a central wholesale market. In the 1960s, around 1,350 traders worked the stalls and shops, and an average of some 10,000 people came to the market each day.

Inside the modern market building

• Basement levels 1–2: car park.
• Ground floor: the fish market.
• First floor: raw-fish restaurants and dried-seafood shops.
• Second and third floors: the Busan Youth Center and other facilities.
• Seaward side: a rest area, tourist information centre, exhibition room, terrace and rooftop park, with views over the South Port towards Yeongdo.

What to eat

• Raw fish: pick flatfish, flounder or rockfish on the ground floor, have it weighed and paid for, and the vendor will prepare it and send it up to a restaurant upstairs.
• Grilled hagfish (kkomjangeo): grill shops cluster in the alleys around the market, a Jagalchi favourite since the 1950s.
• Beef tripe (yanggopchang): a 2022 report counted about 300 tripe restaurants in the three blocks behind the market.
• Dried seafood: the dried-fish market near Yeongdo Bridge sells dried anchovies, laver and all kinds of shellfish.

The festival was renamed the Busan Jagalchi Cultural Tourism Festival in 1996 and has used its current name since 1999. The market building reopened in 2023 after repainting, new flooring and the installation of heating and air conditioning.

Tripto tips

• Opening hours: 05:00–22:00. Closed on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month. Stalls and restaurants keep their own hours.
• Getting there: walk from Busan Metro Line 1 Jagalchi Station or Nampo Station. There is parking under the market building.
• When to go: mornings are the liveliest for the market; in the evening the restaurants and eel alley fill up.
• Watch out: seafood prices depend on weight and the day's market rate, so ask for the price per kilogram first. Floors are wet and slippery; wear trainers.
• Time needed: 1–2 hours including a meal. Gukje Market, BIFF Square and Yongdusan Park are all within walking distance, and the whole area is designated the Yongdusan–Jagalchi Special Tourist Zone.