Local Lens: Korea

A local perspective on how Korea looks, feels, and works—through places, food, culture, and people.

‘Yeosu’ literally means ‘beautiful [麗] water [水]’ in Chinese characters. Korean place names rarely include subjective modifiers. Most reflect the physical geography objectively, such as “Pyeongchang” meaning “flat field” or “Gangneung” meaning “hills by a river.” That’s why the “beauty” in Yeosu is especially notable—the landscape is truly stunning, to the point where the word doesn’t feel like an exaggeration. Yeosu is the only city on the Korean Peninsula’s mainland that is