[Curiosity Lab] A Crazy World... The Disappearing True 'Makjang'

Closing Coal Mines... Coal Production Ends by 2025
About 20 Briquette Factories Left... Seoul Also Preparing to Relocate
The Black Gold That Led Industrialization... Now a Slow Death
Energy Disappearing as Clean Energy Rises Amid Climate Change
The Mine Face Is a Sacred Place but Still Misused Today
Will the Bond and Sentiment of the Mine Face and Briquettes Be Replaced by Clean Energy?

Students and staff of Sungkyunkwan University are volunteering to distribute briquettes in the Deokneung-ro area of Sanggye-dong, Nowon-gu. [Photo by Asia Economy]

The Jangseong Mining Site in Taebaek, Gangwon Province, was closed at the end of June. It was the largest coal production site in South Korea, operated for 88 years since its development began in 1936 during the Japanese colonial period. Since the establishment of the Korea Coal Corporation in 1950, it produced 94 million tons of coal. At its peak, about 6,000 employees worked there, but before closure, 415 employees remained. In 2023, the Hwasun Mining Site in Jeollanam-do was closed. The only remaining Dogye Mining Site will close in 2025, marking the complete end of coal production by the Korea Coal Corporation.

Along with coal, briquettes are also facing a slow death. Currently, there are 20 briquette factories in South Korea. There is one each in Seoul, Gwangju, Daejeon, Gyeonggi, Chungnam, and Jeonbuk; four each in Gangwon and Chungbuk; and six in Gyeongbuk. The only briquette factory remaining in Seoul is the Samchully Imundong Factory, located on the embankment along Jungnangcheon in Imundong, Dongdaemun-gu. It began full-scale operation on January 1, 1968, and was a representative briquette factory boasting the largest facilities in the country. In January 2002, Samchully ended its 47-year history of briquette production, transferring the land owned by Samchully at the Imun Factory to the employees who had long worked there and handed over the briquette business. The Imun Factory employees succeeded the briquette business as part of ‘Samchully E&E,’ established in January 2002, and the Imun Factory remains the only briquette factory in Seoul, continuing the briquette business.

On March 29, employees are conducting the final coal mining operation at the Jangseong Mine of Korea Coal Corporation in Taebaek-si, Gangwon.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

This place is also facing a ‘slow death.’ In May, Dongdaemun-gu Office and Samchully E&E signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the sale and efficient use of the Samchully briquette factory site. Voices demanding relocation have been continuously raised among local residents due to noise and dust generated by the factory. Ultimately, the factory will either leave or close, and the site will be developed into a space for residents. Namseon Briquette, the only briquette factory in Gwangju and Jeonnam, closed in April. It also faced dust complaints from nearby houses and shops and financial difficulties.

Although coal is blamed as a major cause of climate change and clean energy is replacing it, coal and briquettes, represented by mining pits and mining villages, hold a more human energy than any other energy source, accumulating records, memories, and nostalgia over a long history. Coal was the black gold mined from the pits. There was even a saying that dogs passing through mining villages carried banknotes in their mouths. The term ‘makjang’ refers to the innermost part of a coal mine. As ‘makjang’ began to be used in negative contexts such as ‘makjang dramas’ or ‘makjang crimes,’ the Korea Coal Corporation appealed not to use the term.

The view of Samcheonri Briquette Factory in Imun-dong in 2011 [Photo by Samcheonri]

Makjang is a ‘sublime’ industrial site and a ‘serious’ living space where workers sweat and toil, forgetting the 30-degree high temperature, mining the country’s only indigenous energy resource. Miners working in makjang had stronger pride and camaraderie than any other industry. Risking their lives, miners worked in three shifts?Gapbang, Eulbang, and Byeongbang?to produce coal without rest. Because the risk of industrial accidents was always present, miners and their families earnestly hoped for safety every day. Reflecting this sentiment, slogans like ‘Dad! Be safe today too’ were commonly found in company housing villages or at mine entrances.

In 2019, students involved in Youth Climate Action held a walkout protest in front of the stairs of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Jongno-gu, carrying the catchphrase "Not Coal, Our Future," urging the government and older generations to actively respond to the climate crisis. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

If coal is the history of miners and mining villages, briquettes are the history of the common people. Briquettes remain the representative winter fuel that evokes memories for many people. Even now, 74,000 households still use briquettes for heating, and many restaurants use briquettes because they say “the taste can’t be achieved without briquettes.”

Coal and briquettes raise questions. As we enter a new era of energy production based on solar, wind, hydro, nuclear, and bioenergy, should the value of coal and briquettes disappear as well? They might ask, “Clean energy, what will you leave for people, and how will you be remembered?”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.