Busan's markets: Where refugees once gathered, tourists now roam

Busan's traditional markets, around 190 in total, are vital to the city's history and culture. Notable markets like Gukje, Kkangtong, and Jagalchi, shaped by the Korean War, serve as both commercial hubs and historic landmarks.

Foreign tourists browse fresh seafood at Jagalchi Market in Jung District, Busan, on April 8. [JOONGAINGILBO]

BUSAN — Busan is cherished for its distinctive traditional markets, each boasting a long history and its individual character.

Across the coastal city, around 190 traditional markets remain. For some of them, the 1950-53 Korean War marked a major turning point, profoundly shaping the markets into centers of survival, commerce and everyday life.

Among them is today's tourist-favorite Gukje Market, which emerged as one of Busan's most important wartime marketplaces during the war. Originally formed after Korea's liberation in 1945, the market served as a trading ground where Japanese residents returning home sold off their belongings. It was initially known as "Dottegi Market," derived from the Japanese word meaning "to grab."

A signboard for Gukje Market in Jung District, Busan, on May 6. [WOO JI-WON]

During a recent visit, tourists were seen wandering throughout the vast 7,197-square-meter (77,467-square-foot) market, which is divided into six sections specializing in different retail and wholesale goods, from kitchenware and electronics to everyday necessities.

Crowds were especially dense around home decor shops, where tourists browsed blankets and souvenir stores adorned with Korean flag-themed shirts and BTS photo cards. It was during and after the Korean War that the market slowly built its identity. Refugees poured into Busan with little more than desperation to survive, lining the streets with makeshift stalls and fiercely competing with local merchants. What had once been a market of around 1,000 merchants reportedly swelled to tens of thousands after early 1951.

Visitors try simple yet comforting dishes at a row of stalls tucked inside an alley at Gukje Market on May 6.[WOO JI-WON]

Gukje Market became a place where starving refugees filled their stomachs with survival foods, such as kkulkkurijuk, or pig soup, made from leftover provisions from U.S. military bases.

By the 1950s, there was virtually nothing unavailable at Gukje Market. U.S. military goods, foreign relief supplies and smuggled products from Japan, Hong Kong and Macau flowed through the Busan Port into the market before spreading nationwide, earning it the name Gukje, meaning international.

The market and its surrounding neighborhoods also became crowded with refugees living in makehift shacks. Many locals still remember Gukje Market for the massive fire that broke out in January 1953. What began as a small blaze at a restaurant spread rapidly through the shantytowns, destroying more than 1,600 structures and displacing some 22,500 people.

Nearby Kkangtong Market was also deeply tied to wartime Busan. Though the market dates back to 1910 as the first public market supplying everyday necessities, it earned its current name, meaning "Tin Can Market," during the Korean War, when refugees sold canned foods and goods from U.S. military bases there.

People line up at a stall selling skewers at Kkangtong Market in Jung District, Busan, on May 5. [WOO JI-WON]

Today, it draws massive crowds of visitors, particularly at night when the area comes alive with its famed night market.

On a recent nighttime visit, it was difficult to move through the crowds as vendors and stalls lined the main road selling a wide range of street foods, from classic seed hotteok (pancakes with sweet filling) and spicy chicken feet to international fare such as Turkish kebabs and Chinese grilled cold noodles, each drawing long lines of customers. Most of the offerings don't have direct ties to Busan, but the vibe is what attracts the younger tourists.

Another market partly shaped by the war is Jagalchi Market. First formed in the early 1920s, the market continued to grow through street vendors selling fresh seafood from Busan Port, a tradition that still defines the market today. It is probably the only market that is maintaining the characteristics of its origin.

Foreign tourists browse fresh seafood at Jagalchi Market in Jung District, Busan, on April 8. [JOONGAINGILBO]

During and after the Korean War, many women who had lost their husbands in the battles or needed to support their families gathered there to work as peddlers and street vendors, giving rise to the iconic "Jagalchi Ajime," with ajime meaning middle-aged woman in the Busan dialect. Wearing red aprons and fiercely running their businesses amid the chaos of wartime Busan, they became symbols of resilience and female labor in the city's modern history.

Today, as one of Busan's representative tourist landmarks, Jagalchi Market continues to draw crowds eager to witness the unique sight of rows of seafood laid out across the market and sample fresh dishes prepared on-site.

BY WOO JI-WON [woo.jiwon@joongang.co.kr]