Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha | Cheongha Gongjin Market, Pohang — The Market That Took the Name

The market changed its name. That is the detail that matters.

Cheongha Market is a five-day market in a small township in northern Pohang, trading on days ending in 1 and 6 — vegetables, seafood, side dishes, socks. The production built Gongjin's shopfronts onto it: Gongjin Banjeom, Bora Supermarket, Cheongho Hardware, the Oyun café, and a squid tower about four metres high in the middle of the square. After the drama aired, the market registered itself as Cheongha Gongjin Market and kept the signs up.

What happened next is the opposite of the usual story. This was late 2021, deep in the pandemic, and traders who had been having a terrible year suddenly had customers. Food trucks and stalls appeared that had not been there before. The cafés and restaurants around the square filled up. The tourism did not arrive as coaches that stopped for five minutes — it arrived as people who came for the afternoon, ate lunch, and bought things.

Opposite the Oyun café there is now a board covered in Post-it notes: favourite lines, thank-yous, messages from people who came a long way. Reading it takes longer than photographing the shopfronts.

Bus from Pohang Station takes about 27 minutes, every 22 or so. Parking is fine on ordinary days and tight on market days.

Come on a day ending in 1 or 6, when the actual market is running and the set is just the backdrop. That is the version of Gongjin the drama was arguing for.

Cover photo: Guryongpo, Pohang, by Choi2451, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Regional view, not the market.