Gyeongsangbuk-do
Discover Gyeongsangbuk-do
Introduction
Gyeongsangbuk-do occupies the south-east of the Korean peninsula, and it holds more of the country’s recorded history than any other province. Gyeongju was the capital of the Silla kingdom for very nearly a thousand years, and the city is effectively an open museum: grass-covered royal burial mounds rise out of ordinary parkland in the middle of town, and the Bulguksa temple and the Seokguram grotto with its granite Buddha are on the hillside above, all UNESCO-listed.
Inland, Andong is the centre of Korean Confucian tradition. The Hahoe folk village sits in a bend of the river with thatched and tiled houses still lived in, has its own mask dance with a nine-hundred-year-old repertoire, and is UNESCO-listed, as are several of the province’s seowon — the private Confucian academies that trained the scholar class. Andong is also known for a salted mackerel tradition and a soju strong enough to have its own reputation.
The province is mountainous, with the Sobaek range along its western edge and national parks at Juwangsan and Sobaeksan. The east coast runs down to Pohang, a steel city with a sunrise plaza, and out to Ulleungdo, a volcanic island a long ferry ride offshore. Autumn is the season everyone recommends, for the colour in the mountains and because the summer here is hot and wet.