Gunpo (군포; ), formerly romanized as Kunp'o, is a small city in South Korea's Gyeonggi Province, located south of Seoul in the Seoul National Capital Area. It borders Anyang to the north, Uiwang to the east, and Ansan to the south and west, and is connected to its neighbors and to Seoul by lines 1 and 4 of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway. Gunpo is also home to three stops on the Gyeongbu Line, a national railway that links it to the rest of the country. Although 73.2% of the city is greenspace, owing largely to Surisan and various smaller mountains, Gunpo is home to over 286,000 residents in several urban areas. The city's downtown core is Sanbon New Town, a commercial hub which centers on a pedestrian "street of culture" that Gunpo has designated as one of its eight scenic locations.
Gunpo was promoted from town to city in 1989 due to the rapid urban and industrial growth of Seoul, and large-scale housing projects were immediately begun. Hansei University, a Christian institute of post-secondary learning, is in the city, as are forty-four other public schools and a number of private academies. With eighty-three percent of its citizens holding public library memberships, Gunpo touts itself as a book-reading city, and it also promotes itself as being environmentally friendly and in harmony with nature. Its residents include 2010 Olympic figure skating gold medalist Yuna Kim, who grew up in Gunpo after moving there at the age of six. Sightseeing locations around the city include the Banwol reservoir and the Royal Azaleas Hill, and Surisan is a hiking destination.
History
Early history
During the Three Kingdoms era of the Korean Peninsula, the land that is now Gunpo was under the control of the Goguryeo dynasty, and it fell within Yulmok-gun (county) as of 475 CE. The area became Yuljin-gun under Unified Silla in the year 757, and in 940 it was renamed Gwaju-gun by the ruling Goryeo dynasty. The year 1413 saw the Joseon dynasty dub the area Gwacheon-hyeon.
In May 1895, the area containing present-day Gunpo became known as Nam-myeon, a division of Gwacheon-gun, but on 1 March 1914, a revision deemed that Nam-myeon now fell within Siheung-gun. Throughout the remainder of Japan's annexation of Korea and the first several decades of the Republic of Korea, no changes were made to the designation of Nam-myeon or to its administrative districts, but a presidential decree had the area promoted on 1 May 1979, to Gunpo-eup (town), which yet remained within Siheung-gun.
Gunpo Station, a railway stop on South Korea's nation-spanning Gyeongbu Line, was first opened in 1905, and it was joined by nearby Geumjeong Station in 1988. Geumjeong's opening also saw Seoul Subway Lines 1 and 4 expand into the town—both Geumjeong and Gunpo Stations serve as metro stops on Seoul Subway Line 1, and Geumjeong is also a transfer station to Line 4.
Promotion to city
In 1989, the rapid industrial growth and urbanization of Seoul prompted the construction of five new cities in the Seoul Capital Area: Gunpo, Anyang, Seongnam, Bucheon, and Goyang. The move was based on a national law which was intended to promote efficient regional management in the face of an increasing demand for administration. Siheung-gun was thus disbanded, and Gunpo-eup was promoted to Gunpo-si (city). Five legal dongs (neighbourhoods) fell under Gunpo's jurisdiction, although some were further sub-divided into numerous administrative dongs—for example, Sanbon-dong was split into Sanbon 1-dong and Sanbon 2-dong. At 20.70 km2, Gunpo maintained the smallest area of any city in South Korea.
A large-scale housing complex zone was established in February 1989 when Gunpo City designated the entirety of Sanbon-dong, Geumjeong-dong, and Dang-dong as an anticipated residential land district. In December 1992, Gunpo City Hall relocated from Dang-dong to Geumjong-dong, and Sanbon Station, on Seoul Subway Line 4, was also opened in 1992.
By 1994, there were ten administrative dongs in Gunpo but only five legal dongs. However, on 24 December of that year, four ris (villages) from neighbouring Banwol-myeon and Hwaseong-gun were incorporated into Gunpo due to the partial adjustment of administrative districts, and Gunpo's area grew to 36.38 km2. The city currently has nine legal dongs, or eleven administrative ones. The acquisition of Daeyami-ri from Banwol-myeon brought Daeyami Station, on Seoul Subway Line 4, into Gunpo's city limits.
