Designation of cultural heritage

non-designated

Pier 1 of Busan Port served as the primary gateway to Busan for both goods and people during the Korean War. The pier was constructed in 1912 as a modern port through which Korean goods were shipped out to Japan and Western products and ideas entered Korea. It was through this port that Korean expatriates returned home after liberation. With the outbreak of the Korean War, Pier 1 at Busan Port became the landing place for U.N. soldiers, displaced Koreans, military materials, and humanitarian supplies. When U.N. forces and Korean civilians were evacuated from the port of Hungnam in 1950, an incident known as the Hungnam evacuation, an enormous number of refugees were loaded on tank landing ships and commercial vessels. They reached the south at Pier 1 of Busan Port. The naming ceremony for a five-metric-ton ferry imported from Sweden, known as the Busan, was carried out here in 1952. In the same year, South Korea’s first cargo vessel for international trade, named the Korea, was put into service here. The site also provided a key source of employment during the war, offering much-needed income to displaced people. It is estimated that there were 62 cargo companies and approximately 20,000 port laborers at the time. International humanitarian assistance continued to be delivered into South Korea through Pier 1 of Busan Port through the years following Korean War, epitomizing the spirit of using international cooperation to overcome the hardships inflicted by armed conflict. Efforts are underway to transform part of this site into a history park and open it to the public.