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A gateway to Northeast Asia that holds both an international
port and an international airport, Incheon is located in the
mid-west of the Korea peninsula, abutting the Yellow Sea.
Located 28 km from the nation’s capital, Seoul, Incheon lies
at 126° 37´ east longitude and 37° 28´ north latitude, the
same latitude as San Francisco, Washington, Madrid, and
Teheran.
The Incheon area has a relatively dry climate, and is affected
greatly by seasonal winds. Northwesterly winds hit the region in winter, while southwesterly winds prevail in the summer. The average annual temperature is around 11.4°C, with average temperatures around minus 3.1°C during the month of January and 24.9°C during the month of August. The temperature span over the year is 28°C.
Incheon’s local GNP is KRW 25 trillion 517.7 billion, which is 4.7% of the national GNP. More than 1.2 million people in the region are involved in various economic activities. Incheon displays an urban-type industrial structure, which is characterized by the fact that tertiary industry is relatively larger than primary or secondary industry. There are seven industrial complexes in the region, including Namdong and Bupyeong, which host more than 7,400 companies altogether.
Incheon was promoted to a city under direct government supervision on July 1, 1981. On January 1st of 1989, Gyeyang-myeon of Gimpo-gun and other districts of Gyeonggi-do Province, including Yeongjong-myeon and Yongyu-myeon of Ongjin-gun, were merged into the city.
Incheon was then changed to a metropolitan city on January 1, 1995. On the following March 1, the entire area of Ganghwa-gun and Ongjin-gun as well as Geomdan-myeon of Gimpo-gun was added to Incheon Metropolitan City.
The current administrative unit covers a total area of 986.45km², or 0.98% of South Korea. It is comprised of eight districts, two counties, and 140 smaller units, including eup, myeon, and dong.
As of September 2005, the city has a total population of 2,628,000, with more than 872,000 households. Incheon is rapidly developing into the third largest city in Korea, following Seoul and Busan, the first and the second largest, respectively.
Except for Mt. Manisan (469m) and Mt. Gyeyangsan (395m), most mountains in the Incheon area are no higher than 300m above the sea level. With hilly mountains well-developed along the coast, there is only a limited amount of flat land in the area. Among its streams, Gulpocheon, Cheongcheoncheon, and Gyesancheon flow into the Han-River, while others, including Sicheoncheon, Seunggicheon, Mansucheon, Jangsucheon, and Unyeoncheon, find their way to the Yellow Sea.
With the exception of Gulpocheon (11.5km), all of these streams are very short. Incheon has a ria coast, with a long, jagged coastline and numerous islands. There are 152 islands off the coast altogether, 113 of which are unmanned.
