Country South Korea Administrative divisions 15 dong Population 172,000 (2010) | Region Yeongnam Area 120.2 km² Dialect South Gyeongsang Province | |
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Weather 3°C, Wind N at 2 km/h, 77% Humidity | ||
Jinhae-gu (Hangul: 진해구, Hanja: 鎭海區) is a district in Changwon City, South Korea. This region is served by the Korean National Railroad, and is famous for its annual cherry blossom festival every spring.
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The city front is on a sheltered, island-studded bay, and is almost completely surrounded by mountains covered with pine trees.
The emblem of Jinhae contains a cherry blossom.
History
Jinhae was developed as a naval base (Chinkai Naval Station) of the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Japanese occupation period in the early 20th century.
On July 1, 2010, Jinhae and its neighboring cities, Changwon and Masan, merged to form the city of Changwon, currently the seat of the Provincial Council of South Gyeongsang Province.
Economy
The city is primarily supported by the Korean Naval personnel and their families or people working for the Republic of Korea Navy shipyard and base facilities. Today, Jinhae hosts major naval facilities of the South Korean Navy including Commander-in-Chief Republic of Korea Fleet (CINCROKFLT) and the Naval Academy.
Jinhae is part of a large urban corridor that links the adjacent cities of Masan and Changwon. These three cities merged as one in 2010. Hence the name "Jinhae-gu" instead of "Jinhae-si".
Moreover, the city is also host to the only US Naval base in Korea, US Naval Fleet Activities, Chinhae.
Cherry Blossom Festival (Gunhangje)
Each spring the city hosts a ten-day festival, variously promoted as the Military Parade Festival or the Cherry Blossom Festival. Each spring over a million Koreans and other visitors crowd into the town to view the cherry blossoms and to see the street performers, carnival stalls and street lighting as well as the military parades which commemorate the victory of Admiral Yi Sun Shin over a Japanese invasion attempt