Chilgok County is an urban-rural complex city of 140,000 populations. Nearly there is Waegwan Station of Seoul-Busan Railway. And Gyeongbu Highway and Express Railway pass here, but they pass away here verbatim. If you come to here Chilgok County by KTX (Abbr. for Korea Train eXpress, that is, Korea’s high-speed rail system and its train), you get off at Dongdaegu Station and have to trace back to north again like countercurrent.
Chilgok was an important waterway traffic hub filled with many merchant vessels and freight ships carrying various commodities. All over this region, there were vivid exchanges with Japanese merchant ships with trading firms. In the Japanese colonial period of early 1900, since there were many Japanese official residences, Chilgok was called as ‘Waegwan’ (‘wae’ means Japan, ‘gwan’ means office or official). Waegwan had kept its fame as a traffic hub until modern times. However, as Gumi and Masan started to rise to the economical forefront, Chilgok (Waegwan) got to lose its old fame to fade away. To make things worse, due to the aftermath of industrialization, river died away and waterways were cut off. Sporadically scattered timeworn Japanese-style houses and low-story buildings only witness the past historical trace. Now Chilgok County prepares to ambitious leap with completion of the Chilgok Weir through the Four Rivers Restoration Project. At the construction field of the Chilgok Weir, we could feel the air of tension from its final stage as well as a feeling of relaxed expectancy. Far behind the public bridge of the Chilgok Weir, a KTX railroad bridge is seen.
The Chilgok Weir is a multipurpose one constructed on around of Seongju County and Chilgok County, Gyeongbuk Province. Its movable sector is 232m and static sector is 168m. At present, inside of the second cofferdam, workers were busy with the rest processes for static part of the weir. Climbing up the public bridge to see around, steel floodgate already completed was boasting its splendor, moreover workers were busy with the work for artwork shaped for iron bull which will be installed up on winch. The Chilgok Weir’s design concept followed a legend which says Doseon (high Buddhist monk of Shilla Dynasty era) buried iron-made bull and horse under Gasan rock in order to tame the unstable geomantic energy.
“The other weirs had allocated static sector which allows riverwater flow over on one side; however, we allocated alternately both the movable and static floodgates.” There was a sense of pride in his face of PARK Cheol-Ho team manager of Daewoo E&C (Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd) who introduced us. Mr. KANG Jae-Won, management director added, “Wandering chinch pad for early 2 to 3 months as an advance team, we did best for the construction. Now an overwhelming moment is coming with completion.”
There must hardly have been a place of the weight of history as Chilgok. That is because countless brave youths here died fighting gloriously for the peace of the nation during Korean War (1950~1953). “If I retreat, shoot me first.” General BAEK Seon-Yeop burned his fighting spirit by say that forward his men. The historic battle field is where the young soldiers threw their last breaths into hand-to-hand combat with fixed bayonets. The very place they resisted against Red Army for 55 days in June 1950, which is Chilgok County. When the Chilgok Weir is completed, the historical site of the battle will be created with a Memorial Peace Park for Deceased Patriots to let people know the history of patriotism.
