South Korea
Sokcho
North Korean refugee grandmothers stuffing squid with noodles in a misty, sea-battered port town.
The grandmothers are from the North. They came during the war, carrying recipes that existed nowhere south of the 38th parallel. Now their children and grandchildren stuff squid with glass noodles in a port town that smells of fish paste, sea fog, and displacement.
Sokcho sits at the eastern entrance to Seoraksan National Park, but the city's identity runs deeper than its proximity to mountains. Abai Village was founded by North Korean refugees who crossed during the Korean War, bringing food traditions that had no southern equivalent. Abai sundae — whole squid stuffed with glass noodles, pork, and tofu, steamed then fried — is a North Korean recipe found almost nowhere else in South Korea. The city's fish market operates daily with catches from the East Sea fleet, and the surrounding coast offers some of Gangwon province's most dramatic littoral scenery. Sokcho straddles two identities: gateway to Korea's most famous mountain, and repository of a displaced food culture that exists in this exact form in this one city only.
Solo
The fish market's street food stalls are designed for solo grazing — stand, eat, walk, repeat. The refugee food story adds cultural depth.
Friends
Sokcho works as a base camp for Seoraksan expeditions, with the city's seafood and soju culture providing the reward after the mountain.
Couple
The port atmosphere — mist, fishing boats, stuffed squid eaten on plastic chairs — has a raw, honest romance that polished restaurants cannot replicate.
- Abai Village was founded by North Korean refugees who crossed during the Korean War
- Abai sundae (stuffed squid) is a North Korean recipe found almost nowhere else in the South
- The city sits directly at the eastern entrance to Seoraksan National Park
- Sokcho's fish market operates daily with catches from the East Sea fleet
Abai sundae — whole squid stuffed with glass noodles, pork, and tofu, steamed then fried.
Raw red snow crab cracked open on plastic tables at the fish market.
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