Cheoin-gu, Giheung-gu, Suji-gu: The Story Behind Yongin's Three Districts

Hey, it's Yongi. Today I want to answer a question I get asked all the time. "I heard Yongin City Hall is in Cheoin-gu, so why do I live in Giheung-gu?" Or, "Why do people in Suji-gu always call their neighborhood a new town?" Sound familiar? Yeah, our Yongin is divided into three districts — Cheoin-gu, Giheung-gu, and Suji-gu. They're all technically "Yongin-si," but once you actually live here, you realize each district has a completely different vibe. So why did one city end up split into three pieces? And just how different are these three faces of Yongin, anyway? Let's dig into it together today. Honestly, putting this story together made me appreciate it all over again — whenever people from different districts start comparing notes, everyone's eyes light up, so I figured this was a story worth telling properly.

When and How Did the Three Districts Come to Be

Yongin is said to have been divided into Cheoin-gu, Giheung-gu, and Suji-gu in 2005. I'll be honest, I don't know all the detailed procedures and discussions that led to this three-way split — administrative reorganizations like this tend to involve a lot of complicated paperwork behind the scenes. But if I had to guess at the bigger picture, it's probably because Yongin stopped being the small, quiet city it once was. As more people moved in and each neighborhood developed its own distinct character, keeping everything under one single administrative unit just didn't fit anymore. So the fact that it split into three is, in a way, proof of just how much Yongin grew and diversified. If it had stayed one small town, there would have been no need to divide it at all. Cities, it turns out, change their clothes as they grow, just like people do.

Once it split into three districts, something interesting happened. Even though they're all lumped together under the name "Yongin-si," what someone from Cheoin-gu pictures as "my neighborhood" is completely different from what someone in Suji-gu pictures. It still amazes me that the view outside the window can be so different even under the same city hall. It's a bit like three siblings from the same family who all turned out with totally different personalities. Let's go through those differences one by one — honestly, it's fun peeling back the layers on these three sibling-like districts.

Cheoin-gu, Yongin's Widest Face

Let's start with Cheoin-gu. Just a quick note — the name Cheoin-gu was taken back from an old Joseon-era place name, 'Cheoin-hyeon.' I've told that story in detail before, so I'll just mention it briefly today. What I really want to talk about now is the character of this place rather than the origin of its name. Cheoin-gu is said to be the largest of the three districts by area, and it's a place where rural land and industrial areas sit side by side. It's kind of amazing how differently the scenery unfolds even within the same city.

So instead of the dense apartment-complex feel of a new town, Cheoin-gu is a place where wide open fields mingle with factories and logistics warehouses. Walking or driving through Cheoin-gu, you often get the feeling of, 'wait, is this really Yongin?' — the scenery is that open and sprawling. Rice paddies stretch on for a while, then suddenly a large industrial complex appears, and further along you're back in a quiet little village again. It feels less like a finished city and more like a neighborhood that's still growing outward. Just holding this much varied scenery within one district is enough to set Cheoin-gu apart from the other two.

Giheung-gu and Suji-gu, the Faces of New Towns

Giheung-gu and Suji-gu, on the other hand, have a completely different character. Both are known for their strong identity as new towns, packed with dense apartment complexes. If Cheoin-gu is a blend of open fields and industry, Giheung-gu and Suji-gu are the opposite — tightly packed, residential-focused neighborhoods. Walking through these two districts, tall apartment towers are usually the first thing you notice, and the streets carry that neatly arranged feel you'd expect from a new town.

Looking at it this way, doesn't it feel striking how many different expressions live under one single name, Yongin? There's wide-open Cheoin-gu, apartment-forest Giheung-gu, and Suji-gu with its own distinct new-town color. It's almost strange that these three faces all exist under the one roof called 'Yongin-si.' So whenever someone asks me, 'what kind of place is Yongin?' I always end up asking back, 'which district do you mean?' That's how different a story each of these three neighborhoods carries. Once you know all three faces, I think Yongin starts to look a lot more three-dimensional — wide Cheoin-gu, dense Giheung-gu, and Suji-gu with its own separate color, all worth knowing before you can really say you know Yongin.

🐉 A Mood Photo, via Yongi