๐ฐ๐ท Ulsan, officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City, and nicknamed Hyundai City, is South Korea's seventh-largest metropolitan city and the eighth-largest city overall. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighbouring Busan to the south and facing Gyeongju to the north.
Ulsan is the industrial powerhouse of South Korea, forming the heart of the Ulsan Industrial District. It has the world's largest automobile assembly plant, operated by the Hyundai Motor Company; the world's largest shipyard, operated by Hyundai Heavy Industries; and the world's third largest oil refinery, owned by SK Energy. In 2020, Ulsan had a GDP per capita of $65,352, the highest of any region in South Korea.
1Economy As the centre of the Ulsan Industrial District, the city is the corporate base of the multinational Hyundai conglomerate. Up to 1962, Ulsan operated as a fishing port and market centre. As part of South Korea's first five-year economic plan, Ulsan became an open port. Additionally, the government designated Ulsan as a Special Industrial District, which encouraged development of major industrial plants and factories: an oil refinery, fertilizer plants, automobile production, and heavy industries were developed here. The shipbuilding port Bangeojin was annexed by the city in 1962.
1Shipbuilding Hyundai Group founded Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan in 1973, which effectively turned the city into a company town and drew a large influx of workers into the city. The company's importance to the city can be seen in its name's omnipresence, with a highway named after Hyundai's founder, and the hospital, school, theater, as well as many restaurants and department stores bearing the Hyundai name.
Amid a global downturn in shipbuilding, Hyundai Heavy Industries sold $1 billion of assets and laid off large numbers of employees in 2016. The company borrowed money from the state-run Korea Development Bank in order to purchase Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, forming Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, with plans to move corporate headquarters to Seoul. Some view this downturn as an indicator of South Korea's over-reliance on chaebols, and fear that a period of deindustrialization for Ulsan mirroring the United States' Rust Belt could be on the horizon.
1Petroleum The city has the world's third largest oil refinery with 840,000 BPD, owned by SK Energy South Korea no.3 S-oil refinery complex with 669,000BPD and 1.7million PX plant of world single largest facility, 39,000BPD lubricant base oil owned by Saudi Aramco is also in Ulsan.
1Automotive Ulsan is the home of the world's largest automobile assembly plant of 300,000 annual capacity 5 assembly plants, proving ground and in-house peers, operated by Hyundai Motors started 50,000 capacity in 1968 now 30 times expansion of massive motor top complex in the world with own export piers with logistics competitiveness. Its integrated design of related functions was inspired by the Ford River Rouge Complex in Dearborn, Michigan.
1Lithium-ion battery manufacture In November 2011, SB LiMotive opened an advanced lithium-ion battery production plant in Ulsan. SB LiMotive was a 50-50 consortium of Samsung SDI and Robert Bosch GmbH. In September 2012, Samsung SDI bought out Robert Bosch GmbH's portion of SB LiMotive for $95 million to gain 100% ownership of the Ulsan production facility. The Ulsan plant is one of Samsung SDI's trio of advanced car-battery production facilities.
1Transportation The city transport department plans to build a light-rail line. The public transportation system is as good as any other major Korean city. The bus system shows a specific ETA at most bus stops.
Ulsan Airport, constructed in 1970 and expanded in 1997, has more than 20 flights per day to and from Seoul's Gimpo International Airport and 4 flights per week to and from Jeju International Airport. In November 2010, Korea's high-speed train network, the KTX, was extended to Ulsan. This provides a high-speed link to Seoul, with a running time of just over 2 hours. The new KTX station (Ulsan Station) is in nearby Eonyang, with a series of express buses (5001-5005), as well as some city buses serving the new station. The original city station has been renamed Taehwa River Station.
1Ulsan is ranked #86 by the Global Urban Competitiveness Report (GUCR) which evaluates and ranks world cities in the context of economic competitiveness. Ulsan has a population of over 1,166,615 people. Ulsan also forms one of the centres of the wider Yeongnam Region which has a population of over 13,169,678 people.
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Twin Towns, Sister Cities Ulsan has links with:
๐จ๐ณ Changchun, China ๐ฎ๐ณ Chennai, India ๐ฏ๐ต Hagi, Japan ๐น๐ผ Hualien City, Taiwan ๐ฏ๐ต Kumamoto, Japan ๐บ๐ธ Lubbock, USA ๐ฒ๐ฒ Mandalay, Myanmar ๐บ๐พ Montevideo, Uruguay ๐ฏ๐ต Niigata, Japan ๐บ๐ธ Portland, USA ๐ง๐ท Santos, Brazil ๐ท๐บ Tomsk, Russia ๐จ๐ณ Wuxi, China ๐จ๐ณ Yantai, China๐ฐ๐ท Changnyeong 35.544
๐ฉ๐ฟ Batna City 35.55
๐ฐ๐ท Hapcheon County 35.567
๐ฐ๐ท Pohang City 129.35
๐จ๐ณ Mudanjiang 129.633
๐จ๐ณ Wangqing County 129.767
Locations Near: Ulsan 129.313,35.5383
๐ฐ๐ท Nam 129.33,35.54 d: 1.5
๐ฐ๐ท Ulju 129.196,35.614 d: 13.5
๐ฐ๐ท Gyeongju 129.216,35.84 d: 34.6
๐ฐ๐ท Yangsan 129.033,35.333 d: 34.1
๐ฐ๐ท Geumjeong 129.083,35.233 d: 39.8
๐ฐ๐ท Dongnae 129.083,35.2 d: 43
๐ฐ๐ท Haeundae District 129.158,35.153 d: 45.1
๐ฐ๐ท Haeundae 129.158,35.153 d: 45.1
Antipodal to: Ulsan -50.687,-35.538
๐ง๐ท Rio Grande -52.099,-32.041 d: 19604.9
๐ง๐ท Pelotas -52.341,-31.763 d: 19568.3
๐บ๐พ Maldonado -54.95,-34.9 d: 19621.4
๐บ๐พ Ciudad de la Costa -55.95,-34.817 d: 19530.1
๐ง๐ท Bagรฉ -54.107,-31.328 d: 19449.6
๐ง๐ท Viamรฃo -51.023,-30.088 d: 19408.3
๐ง๐ท Porto Alegre -51.229,-30.028 d: 19400.3
๐บ๐พ Montevideo -56.198,-34.907 d: 19509.6
๐ง๐ท Alvorada -51.079,-30.001 d: 19398.2
๐ง๐ท Cachoeirinha -51.083,-29.95 d: 19392.6