To Koreans, Busan is a city that evokes a special nostalgia. Japan’s occupation of Korea led to Busan’s growth as a colonial harbor city. The outbreak of the Korean War transformed Busan into a city of refugees mingling with the joy and sorrow of ordinary people. Houses with very small rooms began to flank the ridge that traverses Busan, and small and big markets opened below them. There are still many towns that emit nostalgia in Busan, the second largest city in Korea. Korean cinema has frequently captured scenes of the 1960s and 1970s in shantytowns of Busan and places where the romantic sea mixes with mountains. These days, one more location has become very popular for shoots in Busan. Costal scenes from Haeundae to Gwanganri are replete with luxury high-rise buildings, reflecting a city of the future. Let’s tour Busan and the various places that have featured in film scenes.

   

Location Gamcheonhang-no, Saha, Busan
Website Cultural and tourism in Saha,
http://tour.saha.go.kr

 

Deok-su, along with his father (JUNG Jinyoung), mother (JANG Young-nam) and sister Mak-sun, jump into the sea to board a ship to Busan after hearing that Chinese soldiers are coming. The photo is a scene of evacuation from Heungnam Pier during the Korean Conflict. This is the beginning of this story and Deok-su’s tragic life. According to the film crew, they needed a wide lot that overlooked the sea since nearly 300 refugees would need to fill the screen. But it was a big challenge to find such a place. In order to find the right location, the director went to several long beaches in Korea such as Haeundae and Mangsang. But it was hard to come by a wide beach. However, Dadaepo Beach in Busan relieved the crew’s worries.

 

Dadaepo Beach is about eight kilometers southwest of downtown Busan. The beach is popular for the sands that form from the upstream of the Nakdong River, a gentle slope with shallow and warm water. The beach does not allow Homestays and camping. There are no restaurants, entertainment facilities, motels or hotels on the seashore. This regulation allows people to enjoy the true charms of the beach. Across the road from the beach are amenities such as lodgings and restaurants. What makes the beach special is that even if you are 300 meters away from the coast, the water is only about 1.5 meter deep. This adds to its popularity as a family-friendly place.

 

 

This is a scene from the modern-day Kukje Market in 2013. The shoot took four days. It took a huge amount of time to turn HWANG Jung-min into an old man in his 70s through specialized make-up. Accordingly, the makeup work did not afford the crew much time each day. It was expected that Kukje Market would be thronged with merchants and customers and therefore, it would not be easy to shoot the film there. But the merchants’ strong cooperation saved the crew time and money. They actively supported the shooting although their sales might have dipped due to the film’s interference with their business. On the day of the shoot, the Kukje Market Merchant Cooperative asked the merchants to cooperate with the crew via an announcement. The merchants were very proud of the fact that the title of the film (in Korean) is Kukje Market and furthermore that the film would show the world their market.

 

Kukje Market, which expanded from Shinchang-dong in Busan, began to take shape after Korea’s liberation from Japan in 1945. The liberation compelled Japanese people to leave Korea for Japan. So they formed a temporary market at the current site of Kukje Market to make a sizeable sum of money by selling war reserves. After the breakout of the Korean War in 1950, refugees began to sell goods at this site, fuelling the creation of the market. At that time, military equipment and all kinds of goods were smuggled for GIs in Busan through Busan Harbor. These smuggled goods were supplied to other markets across the nation through Kukje Market. The maze-like mix of import goods shops and other stores is a characteristic of the market.

 

 

Location 37-1, Nampo-dong 4-ga, Jung-gu, Busan

Website http://jagalchimarket.bisco.or.kr
 

Deok-su has no alternative but to work as a manual laborer at the harbor throughout his 20s. The scenes of Deok-su in his 20s were filmed at Jagalchi Harbor. The dried fish market at Jagalchi Market and the wharf of Jagalchi Harbor still have buildings built during the Japanese colonial rule. The old buildings make people feel as if they have returned to the past. In the film still, Deok-su drags boxes. They are old ones that are no longer used. These days, they use styrofoam containers instead. Modern props around the harbor were replaced with wooden fish boxes. These can be seen around the actor’s area of movement. HWANG Jung-min fashions messy hair as a young man and comes across impressively.

 

Jagalchi Market runs from the dried fish market adjoining Yeongdo Bridge to the Big Fish Market in Chungmu-dong. Reputedly, the name originated from the fact that there was a lot of gravel in the area and also from Galchi fish (hair tails). The Korean War compelled women to work and they began to sell fish at the market. So, they were called ‘Jagalchi Women’. The best way to take a tour of the market is to look around as the fresh fish flaps around and while listening to the gentle local dialects from Jagalchi Women.

 

 

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