Jinju: A City of the Great Imjin War Battle and the Nam River진주: 임진왜란 3대 대첩과 남강의 도시

Jinju, in Korea's southeast, is a city defined by a fortress, a river, and two sieges. When Japan invaded Korea in 1592 (the Imjin War), Jinju Fortress guarded the gateway to the fertile Jeolla region. In November that year (the tenth month by the lunar calendar), commander Kim Si-min and roughly 3,800 defenders repelled a far larger Japanese army — a defense Koreans count among the three great victories of the war. The following July, however, the Japanese returned in overwhelming force; the fortress fell, and its garrison and much of the population were massacred. From that tragedy comes Jinju's most famous legend: Nongae, a gisaeng (courtesan-entertainer) who, during the victors' banquet at Chokseongnu Pavilion, is said to have embraced a Japanese general on a riverside rock and leapt with him into the Nam River. The rock, called Uiam ('Righteous Rock'), still sits below the pavilion. The floating lanterns that fill the river each October also trace back to the siege — lanterns were used for military signaling and to send word across the water. Today the Jinju Namgang Yudeung Festival turns that memory into one of Korea's most beautiful autumn spectacles, with thousands of glowing lanterns drifting beneath the fortress walls.