Muju carries, layered one atop another, its geographic identity as the Three Kingdoms-era border between Baekje and Silla, the ordeal of the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, and the very different stories of skiing, fireflies, and taekwondo from the modern era. These nine stories are each independent events, but all of them unfolded on the single stage of this small mountain county.
It is hard to guess, at first glance, that such a small region could hold stories from so many different eras and of such different character. From a Three Kingdoms-era border, to a Joseon-era archive, to a 20th-century resort and festival, to a 21st-century national sanctuary of sport — Muju has arrived at its present form by stacking, one at a time, the traces each era left on this land.