Busan Evoked

Busan meets the sea at close quarters. Fishing boats cross the harbor, cargo ships and port structures occupy the water, and people gather along the shore. The sea is woven into the city’s work and daily life, while the mountains rise just beyond its edge.

During the Korean War, especially after the January 1951 retreat, a massive influx of refugees transformed Busan. With little flat land between the mountains and the sea, the city pressed into every available space. Homes climbed the slopes, while the harbor remained a threshold through which people, goods, and histories moved.

These images bring together the city’s waterside life and its expanding urban landscape. Boats, shorelines, bridges, and distant hills hold different layers of Busan in view: a port city shaped by the sea, and a refuge city reshaped by war. Its past and present meet along this shifting edge of land and water.