POHANG, KOREA - A canal will be open in Pohang, a city 360 kilometers southeast of Seoul, reconnecting the Hyeongsan River to the Youngil Bay that has been blocked for 40 years since the early 1970s.

 

Ahead of the official opening on November 2, the Pohang Canal is undergoing final construction work. With the linking of the waterway, the port of Dongbin Nae will be restored from a stench-filled alluvium.

 

The port used to be a small-but-lively fishing town until the Pohang Steel Company (today's POSCO) built Korea's first integrated steel mill nearby. In order to make way for the steelworks and prevent flood, however, the company filled up the 1.3-km section of the river and redirected the water flow elsewhere. Since that time on, Dongbin Nae Port has quickly turned into an inhabitable plot of land and soon was abandoned by its residents.

 

At the cost of 160 billion won, the City Government of Pohang has since 2006 dug up the interval between the port and the Hyeongsan River mouth at the depth of 1.74 meters and the width of 15 to 26 meters. The city government officials expect that the area surrounding Dongbin Nae Port could become a promising tourist attraction with hotels, cafes, and a business town. By 2016, the government will build a 16,400-square-meter ocean park near the Dongbin Bridge. By March next year, it will also run two cruise ships and 18 ferryboats to move back and forth the 6.8-km section between Dongbin Nae Port, Songdo, and Hyeongsan River.

 

The city government figures that the new Pohang Canal will have up to 1 trillion won of economic effect from tourism boost. Pohang City mayor Park Seung-ho said, "We want to make the canal as a world-class tourist attraction visited by tourists from all across the world."