Sorae Salt Pond () is a former salt pan located across in Namdong District, Incheon, and , , Wolgot-dong, and in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Built as part of the fourth-phase salt pan construction initiated by the Governor-General of Chōsen, its construction spanned from 1935 to 1937. Following the liberation of Korea, it remained a major source of solar salt production under the South Korean government. However, facing a structural decline in the domestic salt industry and losing economic viability, the facility was permanently closed in July 1996.
Like most traditional solar evaporation facilities, the Sorae Salt Pond produced salt by channeling seawater sequentially through a primary reservoir, two evaporation ponds, and a final crystallization pond. The workforce was organized into five distinct operational zones, each tasked with managing a specific section of the salt field. Over its decades of operation, the facility underwent several technical modernizations; the original mud floors of the crystallization ponds were gradually paved with tiles, and the method of moving harvested salt transitioned from manual shoulder-carrying to the use of handcarts. Today, portions of the site within Incheon and Siheung have been restored as a public ecological park. The remaining land is held by Sungdam, a private corporation that succeeded the Daehan Salt Era Corporation (the privatized salt division of the former Office of Monopoly). Physical remnants of the colonial-era salt industry, including wooden salt warehouses and narrow-gauge trackbeds once used by salt transport cars (locally known as gasirang trains), are still preserved on-site.
Following the launch of the project, local authorities restored the surrounding mudflats, tidal channels, and the abandoned 1,561,000 m² salt pan area into a biological sanctuary and a habitat for migratory birds. The park construction was completed in May 2009, when it officially opened to the public.
Background Until the late Joseon dynasty, on the Korean Peninsula relied almost entirely on jayeom (boiled salt). This labor-intensive method involved repeatedly plowing and drying mudflats during low tide to concentrate salinity within the soil, filtering seawater through this enriched mud to collect highly saline brine (; hamsu), and then boiling the brine in large cauldrons to crystallize the salt. During this era, salt-making kilns operated across the western, southern, and eastern coastlines of Korea. Jeollanam-do yielded approximately 50% of national production. Within , the largest output came from , though , , , , and Incheon were also prominent salt-producing centers. The specific outputs within the modern boundaries of Incheon during the late empire were documented as follows; however, this regional production represented only about 2.3% of the total output of the peninsula, meaning its distribution was limited to local consumption and neighboring markets in Seoul and Gyeonggi.
+ Jayeom Production in the Incheon Area (1907)Yoo 2004, p. 324. Re-cited from Korean Salt Industry Survey Report (Ministry of Finance, 1907). District Salt Kilns Salt Pan Area (Jeonbo) Production Output (Geun) Mowolgot-myeon, Bupyeong County 44 21 jeonbo 719 bo 2,011,260 Seokgot-myeon, Bupyeong County 23 6 jeonbo 9,115 bo 664,226 Juan-myeon, Incheon County 10 2 jeonbo 5,228 bo 347,700 Seo-myeon, Incheon County 4 2 jeonbo 3,317 bo 232,560 Bunae-myeon, Incheon County 5 3 jeonbo 2,028 bo 318,240 Namchon-myeon, Incheon County 24 19 jeonbo 717 bo 1,970,620 Jodong-myeon, Incheon County 9 6 jeonbo 9,320 bo 660,960 Shinhyeon-myeon, Incheon County 2 5 jeonbo 825 bo 61,200 Total 121 74 jeonbo 1,269 bo 6,266,766
Following the opening of Korean ports under the Treaty of Ganghwa, the expansion of foreign trade catalyzed a commodity-money economy, while urban population growth led to an increased demand for salt used in preserving kimchi and seafood. Concurrently, an influx of inexpensive, mass-produced solar salt from Japan and Qing dynasty China crippled Korea's small-scale, self-sufficient traditional producers, shifting the domestic trade toward larger commercial brokers. In response, the Ministry of Agriculture, Commerce, and Industry of the Korean Empire established a 20-jeonbo experimental station in , Incheon, in 1899. Under the direction of technician Byeon Guk-seon (卞國璇), the facility successfully harvested its first crop of domestic solar salt the following year. This site aimed to modernize Korean salt manufacturing by introducing iron boiling pans and Western apparatuses. The station utilized coal as fuel and employed advanced monitoring instruments, such as barometers, Celsius thermometers, soil thermometers, and wind-powered electrical indicators to maximize thermal efficiency. Records of production at this specific experimental facility cease after August 30, 1901. Although its precise coordinates are unverified, historians assume that the later, larger industrial Juan Salt Pan was constructed directly over this experimental ground.
Unlike the solar salt imported from China, domestic salt production in mainland Japan relied primarily on the boiling method, rendering Japanese producers incapable of matching the low market prices of Chinese imports. The Japanese colonial apparatus concluded that establishing solar evaporation fields within Korea—where the climate, flat coastal mudflats, and low land costs were far more favorable than on the Japanese archipelago—would secure a stable supply of industrial raw materials for Japan's domestic chemical and military sectors. This strategy also aimed to monopolize the Korean domestic market by supplanting imported Chinese salt with high-quality, state-controlled colonial solar salt. To test the large-scale feasibility of solar evaporation on the peninsula, the surveyed potential sites, initially prioritizing the tidal areas between Dalido Island and the Hwawon Peninsula near Mokpo. However, the central government of the Korean Empire adamantly opposed installing solar facilities in the Mokpo region, which was the heartland of traditional Korean jayeom guilds. After briefly considering Myeongjido Island in Busan as an alternative, authorities ultimately selected Juan in Incheon due to its immediate proximity to the capital, Hanseong (modern-day Seoul).
According to the Historical Records of the Korean Salt Industry (조선염업사료) compiled by salt technician Takayoshi Ishikawa (石川武吉), field engineers Naojiro Yamada (山田直次郞) and Kiyoshiro Miki (三木毛吉郞) of the Monopoly Bureau of the Government-General of Taiwan conducted extensive tideland surveys along the Korean coast in 1906, identifying Juan as the ideal site. In September 1907, a 1-jeonbo Taiwan-style solar salt pan was completed. On September 23, prominent cabinet ministers—including Song Byeong-jun, Ye Wanyong, Im Seon-jun, and Ko Yeong-hui, who were later reviled as members of the —traveled via the Gyeongin Line to inspect the new solar facility. The solar salt harvested at Juan proved far superior in both chemical purity and cost-efficiency compared to the salt produced at the Japanese-style thermal boiling facility in Yongho-ri, Dongrae County, Gyeongsangnam-do. Both experimental stations were officially dissolved in February 1909 as operations shifted toward full-scale commercial production.Sunjong Sillok, Sunjong Vol. 3, February 18, Year 2 (1909). Restructuring of administrative codes and salt experimental facilities. National History Compilation Committee.
Construction and operation Based on the data gathered from these experimental stations, the Residency-General and the subsequent Government-General of Chōsen executed a four-phase master plan to build state-run solar salt pans across the Korean Peninsula. Within the modern limits of Incheon, the Juan Salt Pan was established during the first and second phases by reclaiming . Once the bay was fully occupied, the Namdong Salt Pan was built during the third phase by reclaiming the estuary of the . Following the third phase, the Japanese government suspended infrastructure projects due to the economic fallout of the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake; the fourth phase did not commence until 1933. To minimize embankment construction costs and protect the facilities from storm surges or typhoons, the fourth-phase salt pans were built at a higher elevation than the natural sea level—unlike previous phases where fields sat lower than high-tide markers. Consequently, the Sorae facility relied heavily on mechanical pumping to lift seawater into its reservoirs.
+ Government-General State-Run Salt Pan Construction (Phases 1–2)Ryu 2017, p. 95. Re-cited from Historical Records of the Korean Salt Industry (Ishikawa, 1971). Incheon and neighboring areas are marked in bold. Phase Region Section Area (Jeonbo) Completion DatePhase 1 (1909–14) Juan, Bucheon, Gyeonggi Section 1 1.1 August 1907 Section 2 6.6 May 1909 Section 3 9.0 June 1909 Section 4 14.5 May 1910 Section 5 57.3 July 1911Subtotal 88.5Phase 2 (1918–20) Juan, Bucheon, Gyeonggi Section 6 32.4 March 1919 Section 7 46.9 March 1919 Section 8 44.6 March 1919Subtotal 123.9
+ Government-General State-Run Salt Pan Construction (Phases 3–4)Ryu 2017, pp. 99, 102. Re-cited from Historical Records of the Korean Salt Industry (Ishikawa, 1971). Incheon and neighboring areas are marked in bold. Phase Region Section Area (Jeonbo) Completion DatePhase 3 (1920–26) Namdong, Bucheon, Gyeonggi Section 1–3 300.0 May 1921 Subtotal 300.0Gunja, Siheung, Gyeonggi Section 1–3 575.0 March 1925 Subtotal 575.0Phase 4 (1933–40) Sorae, Bucheon/Siheung, Gyeonggi Section 1–3 549.0 June 1937 Subtotal 549.0
The geographic location of the Sorae Salt Pond was highly advantageous for industrial salt manufacturing. The surrounding intertidal zone was vast and flat, and the soil composition consisted of a balanced, half-and-half mixture of clay and sand, which was ideal for maintaining structural integrity and preventing brine from leaching back into the earth during evaporation. A substantial tidal range of 10.86 meters provided a continuous supply of seawater, and because only minor freshwater streams emptied into the local bay, the coastal salinity remained consistently high. Furthermore, logistics were efficient; harvested salt could be loaded directly onto the Suin Line narrow-gauge railway and transported straight to the , allowing rapid distribution to the high-demand Seoul Capital Area and export markets in Japan and Manchukuo.
The initial construction of the Sorae Salt Pond required a capital layout of 584,500 won in 1934 currency. Ground was broken on May 26, 1934. Oral history from local residents indicates that the Government-General relied heavily on Chinese migrant laborers for the heavy earthworks and dyke-building. Many of these specialized workers had originally migrated from Shandong Province to construct the Gwangryangman Salt Pans in South Pyeongan Province, and were later deployed south as new fields were opened across Bucheon and Siheung counties.
The four major state-run salt pans in the Gyeonggi region—Juan, Namdong, Gunja, and Sorae—were managed under the centralized jurisdiction of the Juan Branch Office of the Monopoly Bureau. This branch office operated field stations at Namdong, Gunja, and Sorae to directly supervise daily operations, while the main office directly managed the Juan site. The administrative structure was divided into three departments: General Affairs (accounting, storage, transport, and welfare), Operations (labor recruitment, production supervision, and facility repairs), and Civil Engineering (surveying, infrastructure design, and dyke/warehouse maintenance). In 1943, the state-run Sorae field station was temporarily dissolved when the facility was leased to the private Chosun Salt Manufacturing Corporation to maximize wartime output.