Hwacheon County - History

History

Before 1900, Hwacheon was extremely sparsely populated, with only a few small villages alongside major rivers, due to its rugged terrain and harsh winters. Hwacheon Dam was completed in 1944, during the Japanese Occupation of Korea, and the electricity it generated proved to be a boon. However, it was also source of conflict during the Korean War due to its strategic value as both a power plant and potential weapon (by intentionally flooding downstream areas). It ended up well inside allied territory with the establishment of the DMZ to the north in 1953.

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