On April 4, 2019, Cheonsa Bridge, spanning a total of 7.22 kilometers and connecting Apae Island and Amtae Island in Sinan County, opened to traffic. At the time of its opening, this bridge was recorded as the fourth-longest maritime bridge in South Korea. The bridge's name, "Cheonsa" (meaning "angel," and phonetically evoking "1004," the Korean pronunciation of which sounds like the word for "angel"), directly reflects the identity Sinan County has long used to introduce itself: "the county of 1,004 (angel) islands."
Sinan County's tourism site lists 1,025 islands: 72 inhabited and 953 uninhabited. “1,004 Islands” is a regional brand using the Korean homophone for “angel,” not the same statistical total. Island counts need a date and method, so the brand should not be presented as a separate scientific count.
The transport ministry announced that the April 4 opening replaced a representative one-hour sea journey with about ten minutes by car. That is a route comparison, not a guaranteed travel time for every island. “Fourth longest” was an opening-era ranking whose basis and relevance can change. The bridge altered access to the central islands but did not solve ferry dependence elsewhere in Sinan. Use designated viewpoints rather than stopping on the bridge, and distinguish the 1,004-island homophone brand from the county page's 1,025-island count.