South Korea Data Diary

A city most data analysts
have never touched.

Pyeongtaek is home to the world's largest US military base outside America, Korea's #1 car export port, and the world's biggest Samsung semiconductor plant.

This project uses open Korean government data to analyze a fast-growing city that almost no one is studying. Every chart is interactive, reproducible, and built with free open-source tools.

Interactive charts Click any chart to open it live

Overview

City Portrait

Key statistics at a glance — population, area, foreign residents, and local enterprises. The 30-second introduction to Pyeongtaek.

KOSIS · City Portal Open →

Demographics

Gyeonggi Province Cities

How does Pyeongtaek rank among the 31 cities of Gyeonggi Province? 9th by population — but growing faster than every city above it.

KOSIS 2023 Open →

Economics

The Three Engines

Pyeongtaek's economy runs on three distinct mega-projects — a port, a military base, and a semiconductor plant — that barely interact with each other.

GPPC · US Army · InvestKorea Open →

Military

Camp Humphreys

The largest US military installation outside America. Bigger than Vatican City by 33x. What does 42,000 Americans living in a Korean suburb actually mean for a city?

US Army Public Releases Open →

Demographics

Population Growth

342,000 in 2000. 640,000 today. Nearly doubled in 24 years — the fastest-growing city in Gyeonggi Province, with annotated milestones showing what drove each surge.

KOSIS · worldpopulationreview.com Open →

Trade

Port Cargo Volume

Monthly cargo data for Pyeongtaek Port — Korea's #1 automobile export hub. Includes Lunar New Year dip, pre year-end surge, and annual average baseline.

GPPC Monthly Stats 2023 Open →

Live · Air Quality

PM2.5 Tracker

Daily PM2.5 readings pulled from the AirKorea API — updated automatically. Port ship emissions, Yellow Dust season, and weather all show up in this line.

AirKorea API · airkorea.or.kr Open →

Methodology How this project works

Data sources

Korean government open data portals — KOSIS, AirKorea API, GPPC port authority, Pyeongtaek city portal. All free.

Python + Plotly

Charts built in Python using Plotly — the same library used by professional data teams. Fully interactive HTML output.

GitHub Actions

Automated workflow generates charts on demand. One dropdown pick — chart appears in 60 seconds, committed to the repo.

GitHub Pages

Every generated chart is automatically published as a live URL. No server, no hosting costs, no maintenance.

Each chart comes with an auto-generated caption draft. Screenshot + caption + live link = one post.

Technical stack Tools and data sources

Tool	Purpose	Cost
Python 3.11	Chart generation, data processing	Free
Plotly	Interactive HTML charts	Free
pandas	Data wrangling	Free
GitHub Actions	Automated chart generation	Free (2,000 min/mo)
GitHub Pages	Live chart hosting	Free
AirKorea API	Live PM2.5 readings for Pyeongtaek	Free (data.go.kr)
KOSIS	Korean national statistics	Free (kosis.kr/eng)
GPPC	Pyeongtaek Port monthly cargo data	Free (gppc.or.kr)

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