Gunsan Reread Through Foreign Eyes: Five Scenes That Caught the Attention of CNN and Foreign Media

In 2022, CNN Travel put the Gogunsan Islands on its list of underrated places in Asia and introduced it as a group of 63 islands off the west coast. It wrote that the view of green hills scattered over a calm sea looks like a painting, and it suggested light hikes and swimming.

In 2017, the same outlet picked Seonyudo Island 15th in '33 beautiful islands in Korea'. It wrote that the island takes its name from a peak said to look like two immortals playing Go, and it named the sunset, three small uninhabited islands and Myeongsasimni Beach as sights. Seonyudo Island is now linked by bridges to Munyeodo Island, Jangjado Island and Daejangdo Island, so you can walk between them.

In 2023, Gwangju News, an English-language monthly in Gwangju, introduced three mountains on the west coast that are easy to climb. One of them was Daejangbong Peak on Daejangdo Island in the Gogunsan Islands. The writer, Isaiah Winters from California in the US, wrote that the summit view is unobstructed and suggested climbing around sunset.

The writer also noted some letdowns: the pensions below the peak were overpriced, and rain cut short the plans for Okdol Beach. Even so, the writer promised to go back to Daejangbong Peak and strongly recommended the Gogunsan Islands. Daejangbong Observatory charges no fee and is open with no closing days.

Coming from the islands to the old downtown, foreign guidebooks turn their eyes to the Modern History Museum. Lonely Planet named an exhibition that recreates a district of 1930s Gunsan under Japanese rule as a highlight of the Modern History Museum, and advised picking up a guide with a map of modern buildings.

The museum opened in September 2011. Of the spaces in its floor guide, the largest is the Modern Life Hall on the 3rd floor. A single ticket costs 2,000 won for adults, and the museum is closed every Monday and on January 1.

The Jinpo Marine Park on the inner harbor was covered by the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes in 2025. Eric Mendiola, a reporter at Osan Air Base, wrote that the park is worth a visit for history lovers, military buffs and families alike. He introduced it as a place to rest and learn with the sea as a backdrop.

The park displays 16 pieces of retired Army, Navy and Air Force equipment of 13 types, including the 4,200-ton Wibongham warship. The inner harbor area where the park sits is the site of the Jinpo Great Victory, where General Choe Mu-seon of the late Goryeo period first used cannons to defeat Japanese pirates.

In Japanese-language travel media, the Gunsan story often leads to the bakery Iseongdang. A 2024 article in the Japanese travel outlet tabicoffret put Iseongdang on a walk through modern buildings and Gyeongam-dong Railroad Village, and said its vegetable bread made you want to eat it again. A Travel.jp writer described Iseongdang's bread as simple and nostalgic. One Japanese-language travelogue covered Iseongdang's red bean bread and vegetable bread together with Chowon Photo Studio, the filming location of the film Christmas in August.

English-language papers did not pass this bakery by either. In 2026, The Korea Times introduced Iseongdang in a column on bakeries across the country that people travel to on purpose. The English-language travel site meridien 127 noted that Iseongdang is crowded on Sunday mornings. Iseongdang sells red bean bread as its signature item, along with vegetable bread and more. There is no parking.

Walk Gunsan again by following these foreign sentences, and you notice anew that bridge-linked islands, an old downtown where modern history remains and a crowded bakery sit close together in one city.