Inje is a rugged, thinly populated county in northern Gangwon Province, dominated by the inner reaches of Seoraksan National Park and known today for winter ice fishing, rafting, and adventure sports.
History
Inje's recorded history goes back to the Goguryeo kingdom, when it was known as Jeojok-hyeon; it took the name Inje under the Goryeo dynasty and became a county in August 1896. Its remote, mountainous terrain made it strategically important during the Korean War, when the area changed hands multiple times during fighting in 1951 along what is now the DMZ frontier. Since the war, Inje has hosted a major concentration of the South Korean military, including a corps headquarters and a combat training center, and much of the county remains shaped by that presence alongside its national-park scenery. In recent decades Inje has built an outdoor-tourism economy around its mountains and rivers, including winter ice fishing, rafting, and adventure sports.
Highlights
- Naeseorak (Inner Seoraksan), the quieter, Inje-side half of Seoraksan National Park, centered on Baekdam Valley's granite peaks and autumn foliage.
- Baekdamsa Temple, a mountain temple in Yongdae-ri linked to the independence-era Buddhist monk and poet Han Yong-un (Manhae).
- Wondae-ri Birch Forest, tens of thousands of white birch trees on a reforested hillside, especially striking under snow.
- Soyang Lake, Korea's largest artificial lake, whose Inje shoreline hosts the county's popular winter ice fishing festival.
- Inje Speedium, a motorsport racing circuit that opened in 2013, reflecting the county's broader focus on adventure sports including South Korea's highest bungee jump.
Food
Inje's mountains and rivers show up on the table: bing-eo (smelt, or "ice fish"), caught through the ice in winter, injin (mugwort) and other wild greens gathered from the hillsides, and hwangtae, pollock wind-dried on outdoor racks through the winter — a specialty of the county's Yongdae-ri area alongside Korea's other high-altitude drying grounds.
Annual events
- Inje Ice Fishing Festival (late January) — one of Gangwon's major winter festivals, drawing large crowds to fish for smelt through the ice on the county's frozen waters.
Getting there
Inje has no operating train station — a rail line through the county, part of a planned Chuncheon–Sokcho line, remains under construction — so buses are the standard way in. Direct intercity buses run from Seoul's Dong Seoul Bus Terminal to Inje's bus terminal, and the Seoul–Yangyang Expressway, with an Inje interchange, makes driving straightforward; both routes take roughly 2 to 2.5 hours.
How long
Inje's attractions — Naeseorak, the birch forest, Soyang Lake — are spread across a large, rugged county with slow mountain roads between them, so it rewards an overnight stay if you want to see more than one area; a single highlight, like the birch forest or the ice fishing festival, works fine as a long day trip.
More: Inje Tourism — official site.