After the Battle of Myeongnyang, Yi Sun-sin moved his forces to Gohado Island to regroup and rebuild the fleet, staying for 108 days. This small island, tucked into Mokpo's narrow coastal waters, was well suited to reorganizing the navy and preparing for the next engagement. Traces of his encampment and monuments honoring his time there still remain on the island today.
But the same island carries an entirely different layer of history. In 1904, Wakamatsu Tosaburō, the Japanese consul stationed in Mokpo, oversaw a trial planting of roughly ten cotton varieties — including American seed stock — on Gohado. The results were strong enough that Gohado became recorded as the birthplace of successful "upland cotton" (yukjimyeon) cultivation on the Korean peninsula — an improved variety distinct from Korea's traditional cotton strains. That date, 1904, predates Japan's formal annexation of Korea in 1910, but the cultivation program that started there fed directly into the colonial government's organized cotton policy: by 1936, the "Joseon Cotton Industry Conference" was being held at Mokpo's public hall. A site that once hosted the Joseon navy's last stand against invasion became, roughly 300 years later, the starting point of a colonial cotton policy. The fact that the same patch of land played diametrically opposite roles depending on the era is a reminder that no single island's history is ever simple. Most visitors today come for the 120-meter glass-bottomed Skywalk suspended over the water — one of Mokpo's most popular photo spots, with waves visible through the floor beneath your feet. But knowing the two layers of history underfoot changes the weight of the walk.