Tongyeong is one of those corners of Korea that almost no foreign tourist has on their list, yet it wins you over the moment you arrive. It's a fishing port sprawled over the hills and bays of the South Sea, facing a jigsaw of more than a hundred green islands that make up Hallyeo Maritime National Park. Koreans call it the 'Naples of Korea' for its mix of sea, mountains and tightly packed houses, and people come from all over the country to eat its seafood, ride its cable car and wander its painted alleys.
But Tongyeong is more than a postcard. It's a city with soul and history: it was born as the headquarters of the Korean navy in the 17th century, in honour of Admiral Yi Sun-sin, the naval hero who defeated the Japanese fleet here with his legendary turtle ships. It even inherited its name from that military past. And its craft and artistic tradition produced mother-of-pearl lacquerware, composers and poets: it's the birthplace of the musician Yun Isang, with its own international music festival.
This guide takes a practical look at Tongyeong: how to get there (always by bus, since there's no train), what to see in one or two days, how to escape by ferry to the Hallyeo islands, where to eat the best seafood and what history lies behind its walls and piers. It's the ideal addition to a trip around southern Korea, especially if you're based in Busan.
Tongyeong owes its existence and its name to war. During the Japanese invasions of Korea (the Imjin War, 1592-1598), Admiral Yi Sun-sin dealt the Japanese fleet one of its most famous defeats at the Battle of Hansan Island (1592), in these very waters. Shortly afterwards the Samdo Sugun Tongjeyeong was set up here, the headquarters commanding the navies of the three southern provinces; the name 'Tongyeong' comes from 'Tongjeyeong'. For more than two centuries the city was a naval base and flourished as a centre of craftsmanship (mother-of-pearl lacquer, fans), until the headquarters was disbanded in the late 19th century. In the 20th century it was called Chungmu for a time, after the admiral's posthumous title ('Chungmugong', the loyal and martial). Today it still has the Chungnyeolsa shrine dedicated to Yi Sun-sin, replica turtle ships in the harbour and an annual festival that re-enacts the battle. The full story, from naval hero to city of artists, is on our history page.
Read the full history ↓The cradle of the Silla kingdom and of Confucianism, and at the same time the industrial engine of modern Korea: from ancient Gyeongju to the great port city of Busan.
Read the history of The southeast (Gyeongsang) →They depart from Busan, 69 km away. If you book from this link we earn a commission and you pay no more.
No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
Few cities in the world can say they owe their name, their layout and even their reason for existing to a war. Tongyeong is one of them. Unlike other Korean cities, which grew up around a crossroads, a market or a palace, Tongyeong was born as a military base: for more than two centuries it was the headquarters of the Joseon dynasty's navy in the South Sea.
To understand why, you have to go back to the end of the 16th century, when Korea lived through one of the most terrible wars in its history. In 1592, the Japanese warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched a massive invasion of the Korean peninsula, aiming to conquer it and use it as a springboard into China. In Korea this is known as the Imjin War (after the year's name in the Korean calendar), and it dragged on, with a truce in between, until 1598.
While the Japanese armies advanced overland at overwhelming speed, at sea the story was very different. This is where the man who changed everything enters the scene, the man without whom Tongyeong would not exist: Admiral Yi Sun-sin.
Yi Sun-sin (1545-1598) is probably the most revered hero in Korean history: his statue presides over one of Seoul's central squares and his face has appeared on banknotes. A meticulous officer and a brilliant strategist, when the war broke out he commanded the fleet of Jeolla province, in the southwest. Facing a Japanese navy that outnumbered him, Yi won a series of victories so crushing that they stripped Japan of control of the sea and cut its supply lines, which proved decisive for the course of the war.
His most famous weapon was the geobukseon, the 'turtle ship': an armoured warship covered by a roof bristling with spikes to prevent boarding, with a dragon's head at the bow and cannons along its sides. Although it was not the only reason for his victories (the bulk of his fleet was made up of sturdy plank-built panokseon), the turtle ship became the symbol of his naval genius and is today a Korean national icon.
The battle that tied this hero to Tongyeong forever was the Battle of Hansan Island, in August 1592, fought in the waters off the city. There Yi Sun-sin lured the Japanese fleet into open water and surrounded it with a 'crane wing' manoeuvre (hagikjin), sinking dozens of enemy ships. The victory at Hansan is remembered as one of the great naval battles in Asian history and as the moment the Japanese advance by sea was halted.
During the war, to coordinate naval defence better, the Joseon court created a unified command over the navies of the three southern provinces (Gyeongsang, Jeolla and Chungcheong). That headquarters was called Samdo Sugun Tongjeyeong, which literally means 'the headquarters that controls the naval forces of the three provinces'. The first commander-in-chief of that command (the 'Tongjesa') was, as it could hardly have been otherwise, Yi Sun-sin himself.
In 1604, with the war over, the third commander-in-chief moved the headquarters for good to its current site, on the peninsula where the city stands today. Around that military base grew a settlement of soldiers, officials, merchants and craftspeople. And the word 'Tongjeyeong' was eventually shortened into the name of the place: Tongyeong. In other words, the city's name literally means 'the headquarters'.
Some remarkable buildings survive from those years. The most impressive is Sebyeonggwan, a huge single-storey wooden hall built in 1605 that served as the main hall of the headquarters: with its 50 columns it is one of the largest old wooden buildings left in Korea, and today it is a National Treasure. Gates, walls and the Chungnyeolsa shrine also survive; the shrine was built in 1606 to honour the admiral's memory, and offerings are still made to him there every year.
The long period as a naval base left more than barracks and walls: it turned Tongyeong into an unusual centre of crafts and art. To supply and decorate the headquarters and its officers, the court set up specialised workshops in the city (the '12 gongbang', or craft workshops). There, the trades that made Tongyeong famous were perfected: mother-of-pearl inlaid lacquerware (najeon chilgi), folding fans, horsehair hats and fine cabinetmaking. Many of these crafts are now considered part of Korea's cultural heritage, and there are still workshops and a museum keeping them alive.
That artistic sensibility carried on into the 20th century through an astonishing generation of artists born or trained in the city. The best known internationally is the composer Yun Isang (1917-1995), one of the great figures of 20th-century contemporary music, whose life was marked by exile and Cold War politics; Tongyeong honours him with a concert hall and an international music festival that bears his name. The city also produced the poet Yu Chi-hwan and the novelist Park Kyong-ni, author of the monumental saga 'Land' (Toji).
So over the centuries the 'headquarters city' became a city with two souls: military and artistic, seafaring and refined. That combination is what visitors breathe in today among the walls of the old headquarters, the murals of Dongpirang and the concert halls.
When the Joseon military system was abolished at the end of the 19th century, the three-province headquarters was dissolved (in 1895) and Tongyeong became just another port city, living from fishing and maritime trade. For much of the 20th century the urban centre was called Chungmu, after Admiral Yi Sun-sin's posthumous title ('Chungmugong', the 'loyal and martial lord'). In 1995, during Korea's major administrative reorganisation, the city of Chungmu and the rural county of Tongyeong merged into today's city of Tongyeong.
Contemporary Tongyeong lives from fishing and aquaculture (it is one of the country's major oyster-farming centres) and, more and more, from domestic tourism. The opening of the Hallyeo cable car in 2008 and of attractions such as the Skyline Luge multiplied visits from Koreans, who are also drawn by the seafood, the islands and the harbour atmosphere. The rescue of the Dongpirang village in 2007, when community art stopped its demolition, became a landmark case of urban regeneration.
Today Tongyeong brings all its layers together within a few kilometres: the memory of the naval hero and his turtle ships in the harbour; the halls of the old headquarters; the mother-of-pearl lacquer workshops; the music of Yun Isang; and a landscape of islands that crowns it as one of the best-loved coastal getaways in southern Korea. A city born for war that, over time, became a haven of art and sea.
