Okpo, Geoje
Okpo is a neighborhood in the city of Geoje in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. The village is located on the eastern coast of Geoje Island and a center of the island.
The Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) shipyard is located close to the town. A large portion of DSME employees live in Okpo, and DSME jackets are a common sight in the town at night.
There are very few standalone houses in Okpo and most residential accommodation is fulfilled by high-rise apartments. Rent is high.There are a number of local accommodation agencies offering apartments for rent to incoming foreigners, as well as other supporting services.
Okpo has a large foreign transient population due to the shipyards and as a result there is a 'Foreigner's Club' by the Admiral Hotel which is run by the local expat residents themselves, as well as over fifty Western bars and two dozen western restaurants serving a variety of 'western style' meals. There are also Indian, Pakistani, Vietnamese and Turkish restaurants, and local franchises such as a 'Dunkin' Donuts', 'Quiznos', 'Baskin-Robbins' and 'Lotteria' (Japanese fast food burger chain).
From Busan airport, the journey time by taxi, by way of the Geoje-Busan Bridge (10,000KRW toll each way), is under 1 hour, although heavy weekend traffic can be up to 90 minutes.
There is an international school called the International School of Koje (ISK) - which is very convenient choice for foreign workers bringing their families to Okpo.[1]
Okpo had an amusement park, Okpo Land, on the outskirts of the city. It went out of business in 1999, but because the land has been zoned for environmentally low-impact projects, it remained abandoned until 2011 when it was finally demolished.