Ganghwa Island:
​The best place to see North Korea

Thousands of years ago, the legendary founder of Korea, Dangun, is said to have made sacrifices on Mt. Mani, making the island the spiritual birthplace of Korea [1]. It later served as a temporary capital of the Goryeo Kingdom from 1232 to 1270 while the Mongols pillaged their way across Asia.

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Later still, during the Joseon Dynasty, it was seen as Seoul's first layer of defense since the island sits at the mouth of the Han River. As such, it came to be the place where Korea would be brutally pushed into the modern age and where it would meet the country that would inexorably shape its modern history, the U.S.

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A bit of background: By the mid-1800s, Western powers were fast encroaching on East Asia, hungry with the idea of dividing up the ancient kingdoms and building up “trade” in the region. Much of Southeast Asia had already been colonized. China, the de facto leader of the region, had been in sharp decline for decades and was being force-fed opium by the British to hasten its demise. In 1853, the U.S. forced Japan to open up – "gunboat diplomacy" as it was called. Korea saw all of this and fought bitterly to stay isolated, earning the moniker "the Hermit Kingdom," but they, like China, had been in decline for years due to rampant corruption, inept governance, etc. But nonetheless, they forbade any foreigners from entering their lands.

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Russia sent a warship along the eastern coast to open up trade but were rebuffed. The French sent missionaries, but when several were brutally murdered, along with hundreds of Korean christians, the French attacked Ganghwa Island in 1866 to get revenge, but they soon retreated.  

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Now it was the Americans' turn. A trader sent a ship up to Pyongyang, the General Sherman; it vanished. Then in 1871, in true American style, they sent a squadron of warships up the Han River to force Korea to open up. Garrisons on Ganghwa Island were the first resistance they faced. The Koreans opened fire with their primitive flintlock muskets, and things soon escalated. This came to be known as the Battle of Ganghwa Island which saw 243 Koreans killed [2].

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The battle started at Cho Fort - 초지진 at the southeast of the island, known to the Americans as Point Du Conde. A bit further north, there's a memorial to these fallen soldiers at Gwangseongbo Fort - 광성보. See map. 

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The U.S. only lost three soldiers and would move further upriver towards Seoul, continuing to wreak havoc. While they won the battle handedly, they didn’t succeed in opening up the country.

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In a twist of fate, while China and Korea fiercely resisted Western encroachment, Japan embraced it, adopting Western-style weapons, military training, and so on, and within a few decades would begin colonizing Korea for itself. In fact, in 1875, they attacked Ganghwa Island, too; this was one of the first major actions the Meiji Dynasty took to bring down the Joseon Kingdom. It came to be known as the Ganghwa Incident. They would continue expanding their own colonial ambitions throughout the rest of Asia, beating the crap out of Russia, annexing large chunks of China, and moving outwards across the Pacific (foreshadowing, dun, duh, dun).

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Fast-forwarding a bit, the U.S. defeated Japan in WW2. The U.S.S.R. tepidly helped in the Asian Theater but only towards the end, so they could claim territory as victors. Korea was freed from colonial rule, but through a complex series of events, was soon faced with a brutal civil war, 1950 – 1953. America and the U.N. joined in. China joined in, too. And Russia sent equipment. Things got ugly quick! Sitting right in the middle of all this was Ganghwa Island. In the early days of the war, South Korea's then-president Syngman Rhee ordered the mass execution of around 500 pro-communist sympathizers on the island [3]. The forts and historical sites were all destroyed again. And as the rest of the country was also ravaged, the island would change hands several times. But eventually, an armistice was signed, the two Koreas divided, and Ganghwa Island found itself in South Korea.

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Nowadays, it sits right at the border and is separated from North Korea by barbed wire, underwater mines, modern-day guard posts, and the Han River, the very river the island was meant to protect. In the 1970s, the old Joseon-era forts were rebuilt. But in 2010, North Korea bombarded Yeongpyeong, a neighboring island further out west, killing four South Koreans, showing how real the tensions are in this area.

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It's interesting to reflect on how America's relationship with Korea started and how it is now. And this island tells that tale. 

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[1] Ganghwa County Website, ganghwa.go.kr

[2] Encyclopedia of Korean Culture.

[3] Lee, Hee-dong, "[강화교동도 학살·1] '우익단체가 주민 212명 총살' 공식확인 유족 주장 사실로…" 경인일보. February 2, 2006. http://m.kyeongin.com/view.php?key=229411#

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The Bike Trail

The Ganghwa Island Bike Trail is a part of the Peace World Path - 평화 누리 길, which follows the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), coast to coast. Read below to find a link where you can learn more about the Peace World Path... or more accurately, Paths.

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To be totally honest, however, the Ganghwa Island Bike Path offers much better views of North Korea than the rest of the Peace World Path(s) since they generally stay hidden behind highways or are quite far from the DMZ.

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Getting there

They say the best places are always the hardest to get to. Well, getting to Ganghwa Island is a bit of a chore.

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1.) The first leg of the journey. a.) If you’re coming from the Seoul Metropolitan Area, you’ll want to catch a subway to Geomam Station which is a transfer point for the Airport and Incheon 2 lines. Remember, you can only take your bike on these lines on the weekends (Don’t be fooled into thinking you can take the Gimpo Gold Line; it’s a light rail and doesn’t allow bikes at any time). b.) Or if you’re coming from further away or are traveling on a weekday, take a bus to Incheon Express Bus Terminal.  

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2.) The second leg of the journey. Outside of both of those hubs are bus stops for the 800 Incheon Bus - 800번 인천 버스. There’s an A and a B bus which go slightly different routes but only slightly. These buses have undercarriages where you can stow your bike. But the caveat is you need to get lucky and flag down a bus driver who’ll let you load your bike. To improve your odds, have your bike disassembled before the bus arrives and don’t try boarding during rush hour. These buses run from 0900 to 2200 every 20 minutes or so. Once onboard, you’ll head all the way up to Ganghwa Bus Terminal. It takes over an hour. Click here to see the route on Kakao Map.  There's also a bus from Gimpo International Airport, although I'm not 100% sure if it allows bikes. 

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3.) The third leg. Ganghwa’s main town is fairly large and has several grocery stores, restaurants, museums, and cool things to see. Head northwest on the main road. You’ll pass through some busy traffic, but eventually you reach a dedicated bike path, although it is sporadic at first. Keep an eye on the map because it is easy to get lost. Set your navigation for “Ganghwa Peace Observatory.” It’s a 11.6-kilometer ride.

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As you near the observatory, you’ll pass through a military checkpoint. The guards will ask for your ID. Make sure to bring it with you. Alien registration cards and passports are okay. U.S. military I.D. is also likely acceptable – not sure.

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Starting off

The bike trail starts at the Ganghwa Peace Observatory. In Korean, that's 강화 평화 전망대. The observatory is at the northernmost point of the island up a steep hill and is a little over two kilometers south of North Korea, across the Han River. It is actually the nearest point to North Korea. It looks out at Sam-dal Village - 삼달리 in the North.

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Park your bike near the entrance, buy your tickets, and walk up.

• Entry fee: 2,500w

• Opening times: 0900 to 1700 (0900 to 1600 in winter) 

  • But may close in the event of tensions between the North and South

• Other: Bring cash to use the binoculars which cost 500w

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The advantages to this place compared to other observatories are it’s accessible by bicycle, it doesn’t require a tour, there aren’t lots of other tourists around, the whole northern stretch of the island has a continuous view of the north, and unlike the JSA, where you can look out and see Kijong-dong (i.e. Propaganda Village), Sam-dal Village is a real-life town with farmers out in the fields tilling the soil, people riding around on their bikes, etc. 

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Travel tip! This is a good place to bring along your own pair of binoculars or even a telescope!