Makeshift Marketplaces
Beckon Tourists

Visitors can smell the advent of spring and sample the rural lifestyle

With the arrival of March, bitter snowstorms and chilly winds give way to the warmth of spring, influenced by warm weather from the South.
This may be the best time to visit countryside marketplaces where one can smell the scents of spring and sample the lifestyle and traditional memories the elderly still keep in their hearts. Countryside marketplaces were once referred to as "oil-jang,"meaning they were only opened every five days, although they tend to follow a set schedule nowadays.
The Domestic Tourism Promotion team of the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) has released its four picks for popular countryside marketplaces. They are in Namwon, Jeollabuk-do; Sangju, Gyeongsangbuk-do; Gwangju Metropolitan City; and Yeongdong, North Chungcheongbuk-do.
THE INWOEL OIL-JANG, A CLUSTER OF PRODUCE SELLERS FROM NORTH OF MT. JIRI.
The Hwagae Jangtaeo enjoys popularity as a representative traditional Korean marketplace south of Mt. Jiri as is the same with the Inwoel Oil-jang to the north of the mountain.
The Inwoel Oil-jang in Inwoel-ri, Inwoel-myeon, Jeollabuk-do, is open on the third and eighth day of each month, attracting throngs of buyers and sellers as well as tourists. The makeshift marketplace extends from the Inwoel Bus Terminal to the west along a two-lane road lined with about 70 shops and a community credit cooperative.
Drawing the attention of buyers are wild greens and vegetables cultivated near Mt. Jiri. There you can buy such indigenous produce of this region as painted maple water, considered to be good for health, wooden kitchenware, black pork, makkeolri (Korean wine) produced in Namwon as well as marine products from the South Coast.
In August, a renovated Inwoel Oil-jang will be dedicated as a permanent, large-scale marketplace that will open every Saturday. The occasion will be marked with diverse Korean traditional music and other performances will be showcased to attract more tourists from around the country.
Such neighborhood tourist attractions as the Silsang-sa Temple in Inwoel-myeon; the birthplace of the late pansori maestro Song Hung-rok; a monument celebrating the repulsion of a Japanese invasion in Hwangsan; Gwanghanru Pavilion and Chunhyang Theme Park in Namwon are highly recommended. For more information call the Culture and Tourism Department of the Namwon Municipal Government at (063) 620-6163.
SPRING GREENS FROM THE BAEKDU GREAT RANGE
Sangju, North Gyeongsang Province is a decades-old production center of rice, cotton and cocoons, and the city has served as a gateway through which produce from Gyeongsang provinces are transported along the Nakdong River via North Chungcheong province to Seoul. As a result, oil-jang have sprung up naturally to handle produce from both Gyeongsang and Chungcheong provinces. The makeshift marketplace currently runs on the second and seventh day of each month.
The market is full of vegetables and fruits cultivated at the foot of the Baekdu Great Range. You can find cheap prices on such wild greens as shepherd's purse, wild rocambole,
edible shoots of fatsia, wormwood and bog rhubarbs, picked from such places as the foot of Mt. Cheonghwa and Guksu-bong Peak. Sangju accounts for 60 percent of the nation's production of dried persimmons, so a separate section is set aside for selling the popular fruit. Lines of agricultural tool shops, hardware outlets, herbal houses with vintage display windows, cauldron shops and earthenware shops will give you a glimpse of the lingering features of an ancient marketplace.
You can drop by such nearby tourist attractions as the tombs of the Sabeol Kingdom; the Chungryeol-sa Temple where the late Gen. Chung Ki-ryong and Adm. Yi Sun-shin are enshrined; Gyeongcheondae, the most scenic spot along the Nakdong River; the Gyeongcheon Bridge and the Donam Seowon (Confucian temple). For more information call the Saemaul Culture and Tourism Team of the Sangju Municipal Government at (054) 537-7208.
A BUSTLING MAKESHIFT MARKETPLACE IN A DOWNTOWN METROPOLIS
In Gwangju Metropolitan City, the nation's fifth largest city, one can buy groceries at a number of large-size supermarkets, but it is a more intriguing experience to purchase them at the temporary marketplace downtown. You can find the makeshift marketplace in Songjeong-dong, Gwangsan-gu, on the third and eighth day of each month as people have done since long ago.
The roots of the Songjeong Oil-jang can be traced back to the Seonam-jang that existed at a landing of ferry boats plying the Hwangryong River offering quality rice and meat from the Honam grain field as well as seafood from the southeastern sea. The temporary market, which has now moved to a place near the Songjeong Railroad Station, attracts throngs of people. It looks like an oasis in a metropolitan city: rich smells of fresh, wild greens and other mouth-watering produce from the countryside waft through the air along with the cozy kindness of farm folk among the high rise buildings of the bustling downtown. For more information, call the Gwangsan Ward Office of the Gwangju Municipal Government at (062) 942-3011.
TRACES OF SPRING FROM A MAKESHIFT MARKETPLACE
The Ilsan Oil-jang echoes with the calls of hundreds of peddlers every fifth day. The temporary market first opened in the 1930s when the Sangchon-myeon county office in Yeongdong, North Chungcheong Province, was established. The naturally-formed marketplace looks like a place where people from the county barter with each other and exchange products rather than the usual marketplace. The temporary market offers such wild greens as bracken and edible shoots of the fatsia. Sangchon-myeon was the setting of the Korean film "The Way Home,"which received rave reviews when it was released in 2002. At the entrance of the Imsan-ri Village sits a mom-and-pop store where the heroine, Sangwoo's grandmother, bought a chocolate biscuit for her grandson.
Tourists can drop by such tourist attractions as the Nangae Korean Traditional Music Museum where they can experience hands-on traditional musical instruments, including the "giji"(bass), "ganggo," "buk"(drum) and "gayagum."You can trek to the Yeongguk-sa Temple on Mt. Cheontae. For more information call the Culture and Publicity Department of the Yeongdong County Office at (043) 740-3214. nw

An aerial view of the the Songjeong Oil-jang, a makeshift marketplace in downtown Gwangju Metropolitan City.

Diverse agricultural produce are sold at the Ilsan Oil-jang in Yeongdong, Chungcheongbuk-do.

A handicraftsman makes a traditional musical instrument, "nangyae."