Gyeonggi

Gyeonggi, do (province), northwestern South Korea. It is bounded by the truce line (demilitarized zone) with North Korea (north), by the provinces of Gangwon (east) and North Gyeongsang and South Chungcheong (south), and by the Yellow Sea (west). The national capital, Seoul, is in the middle of the province, although it has been separated administratively from Gyeonggi since 1946 as a special city. The provincial capital is Suwon.

Formerly, Gyeonggi province was the granary of Seoul; the Gyeonggi plain, with the Han River and its tributaries flowing through it, produced rice, barley, and wheat. Dairying and truck farming and other types of horticulture are still carried on. As Seoul’s industrial district spread into the province’s area, and with the construction of highways beginning in the late 1960s, a large part of the province became the outer industrial region of Seoul. The cities of Anyang, Bucheon, Seongnam, and Uijeongbu have developed as satellites of Seoul, each carrying on various types of industries, such as shipbuilding, iron and steel manufacturing, and plate-glass production. The city of Incheon serves as Seoul’s seaport and includes the capital’s international airport. Suwon contains a number of notable historic and prehistoric structures. The province has several UNESCO World Heritage sites: Hwaseong Fortress (designated 1997); prehistoric dolmens (stone tombs) near Incheon (2000, collectively with dolmens in North Jeolla and South Jeolla provinces); and royal tombs of the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) located around the province (2009, along with other such tombs located in Gangwon province and in Seoul). The sea around the Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong island groups in the Gyeonggi Gulf offer good fishing grounds for yellow corbinas and croakers. The islands’ proximity to the northern border has made the gulf the site of occasional military incidents, such as North Korea’s November 2010 artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island. Area 3,912 square miles (10,132 square km). Pop. (2020) 13,511,676.