Jeonju

Suncheon

Jeonju (Korean pronunciation: [tɕʌn.dʑu]) is the 16th largest city in South Korea and the capital of North Jeolla Province. It is both urban and rural due to the closeness of Wanju County which almost entirely surrounds Jeonju (Wanju County has many residents who work in Jeonju). The name Jeonju literally means "Perfect Region" (from the hanja 全 (전; jeon) for perfect, 州 (주; ju) for region). It is an important tourist center famous for Korean food, historic buildings, sports activities, and innovative festivals. In May 2012, Jeonju was chosen as a Creative Cities for Gastronomy as part of UNESCO's Creative Cities Network. This honour recognizes the city's traditional home cooking handed down over thousands of years, its active public and private food research, a system of nurturing talented chefs, and its hosting of distinctive food festivals.

Suncheon (Korean pronunciation: [sun.tɕʰʌn]) (Suncheon-si) is a city in South Jeolla Province, South Korea. It is a scenic agricultural and industrial city of around 250,000 people near Suncheon Bay. It is located in the southeastern corner of Jeollanam-do, just over an hour south-east of Gwangju. Forty minutes south of Suncheon is the port city of Yeosu, and twenty minutes to the east of Suncheon is Gwangyang. It is currently experiencing strong development due to being included as part of the Gwangyang Bay Free Economic Zone, one of three newly created Free Economic Zones (FEZs) in South Korea due to open within the next decade. As of October 14, 2007 plans are being set up and a referendum is being planned for a merging of the cities of Yeosu, Suncheon and Gwangyang into a new metropolitan city, taking advantage of the Gwangyang Bay Free Economic Zone, Yeosu's Expo 2012 bid and port facilities, Suncheon's educational institutes and Gwangyang's POSCO plant.