Map - Mungyeong

Mungyeong (문경 Mungyeong ) is a city in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. The local government, economy, and transportation networks are all centered in Jeomchon, the principal town. Mungyeong has a lengthy history, and is known today for its various historic and scenic tourist attractions. The city's name means roughly "hearing good news." Recently, development has been somewhat stagnant with the decline of the coal industry. Since the 1990s, the proportion of people who rely on the tourism industry through Mungyeong Saejae has gradually increased.

The city of Mungyeong was created after Jeomchon City and rural Mungyeong County were combined in 1995. It is now an urban-rural complex similar to 53 other small and medium-sized cities with a population under 300,000 people in South Korea.

The Mungyeong area is believed to have been controlled by a mixture of Jinhan and Byeonhan states during the Samhan period in the first centuries of the Common Era. The Jinhan state of Geungi-guk may have been located near Sanyang-myeon. Byeonhan states such as Sabeol-guk and Gosunsi-guk, which probably controlled the Hamchang area of Sangju, may also have extended their control over adjacent areas that are now part of Mungyeong. However, this stage of local history is almost entirely hypothetical, since very little evidence of any kind remains.

At any rate, the rising power of Silla controlled the area by 505. Capitalizing on the territory's strategic potential, Silla set up various mountain fortresses in the area to control movement in and out of western Korea. Control of transit through the area would have gained even greater importance after Silla's 553 seizure of the Han River valley on the western side of the mountains. At this time the low Haneuljae pass near Poam Mountain was probably the favored crossing, in contrast to the higher Mungyeong Saejae pass which came into favor in the Joseon period.

As Silla reorganized its administrative structure under King Seongdeok in 757, the Mungyeong area was placed under the province of Sangju, and divided among various hyeon, or local districts. During this Unified Silla period the temple of Gwaneumsa, of which all but a few traces have vanished, was constructed near Haneuljae in present-day Mungyeong-eup.

In the early Goryeo period, in 983, King Seongjong reorganized local government yet again. Most of Mungyeong remained divided into assorted hyeon, under the central jurisdiction of Sangju. In 1390, Mungyeong-gun (Mungyeong County) begins to appear in the records, although not with its current boundaries.

In the Joseon period, the Eight Provinces were laid out and thus Mungyeong became part of Gyeongsang, which it remains. During later Joseon times, the road from Seoul to Busan was established running over Mungyeong Saejae. Beginning in the 18th century, gates were erected on the road to control traffic and protect travelers from brigandage. These gates are still preserved today.

The first railroads were constructed in the area during the period of Japanese occupation. Jeomchon Station was opened on December 25, 1924. However, the pace of resource extraction did not accelerate greatly until the post-war period, under the first South Korean government led by Syngman Rhee. Construction on the Gaeun Line, with the goal of improving access to the coal deposits around Gaeun, began on January 18, 1953, before the official end of the Korean War (the line was completed in 1955).

Local self-governance was established in the early years of the Republic of Korea, but abruptly cancelled following the military coup of 1961. After the end of military dictatorship, local representative government was reinstituted in 1991. At that time, the present-day territory of Mungyeong was divided between Jeomchon City and Mungyeong County. The city acquired its present-day borders on January 1, 1995, when the two former units were merged to form Mungyeong City.