MOKPO
浦木 Mok-po
Mokpo, which, like Chinnampo, was opened to foreign trade on the 1st October, 1897, in pursuance of a resolution of the Council of State, is a seaport in the province of Chulla and has an excellent harbour capable of providing anchorage accommodation for thirty or forty vessels of large tonnage. Chulla is a great rice-growing district and has the reputation of being the wealthiest province in the country, and Mokpo lies at the mouth of a river which drains nearly the whole province. Mokpo has undergone a great transformation since it was opened. In 1897 it consisted of a few native huts surrounded by paddy fields and mud flats. The foreign settlement, which comprises about 225 acres of ground, was bought up within a couple of years, and the mud flats were rapidly converted into a town, with well laid out streets, occupied by about 1,200 Japanese and a number of substantial Chinese residents. A seawall was built and a bund road over a mile in length was made.
The trade of the port, amounts to about a million and a half pounds sterling per annum. There are no European firms in the port all the business being in Japanese hands.
CHINNAMPO
Chin-nam-po
This port was opened to foreign trade on the 1st October, 1897, in pursuance of a resolution passed by the Council of State. The port is situated on the north bank of the Tatung inlet, about twenty miles from its mouth, in the extreme south-west of the province of Pyeng-yang. It is some forty miles distant by water from Ping-yang, the third city in the Kingdom, with a population of 40,000, and it is expected that it will become a place of considerable commercial activity. The railroad traffic between Ping- yang and Chinnampo was started in Oct., 1910, and the journey takes one hour and forty minutes, the distance being 35 miles. The province is rich in agricultural and mineral wealth, the latter being now developed by foreign enterprise.
The business of the port is increasing year by year, the rich hinterland holding out good prospects for the future. The foreign trade of the port is worth about five million yen a year.
In the General Foreign Settlement, where formerly only a few mud huts were to be seen, substantial wooden and brick buildings have taken their place. The business community is entirely composed of Japanese and Chinese. The Japanese population numbers about 5,000.
The principal articles of export are rice, beans, wheat, maize, cow-hides and timber. Of inports, cotton and silk piece goods, matches, kerosene, porcelain, iron and hardware deserve mention. The harbour of Chinnampo affords safe accom- modation for a great number of vessels of the deepest draught and the largest tonnage.