Saemangeum dike

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The Saemangeum Seawall, located on the southwest coast of the Korean peninsula, is the world's longest man-made dyke, measuring 33 kilometres. It runs between two headlands, and separates the Yellow Sea and the former Saemangeum estuary.

In 1991, the South Korean government announced that a dyke would be constructed to link two headlands just south of the South Korean industrial port city of Gunsan, 270 kilometres southwest of Seoul, to create 400 square kilometres of farmland and a freshwater reservoir. Since then, the government has spent nearly 2 trillion won on construction of the dyke, with another 220 billion won budgeted on strengthening the dyke and a further 1.31 trillion won to transform the tidal flats into arable land and the reservoir.

Major construction was completed in April 2006, with the seawall 500 metres longer than the Afsluitdijk in the IJsselmeer, the Netherlands, previously the longest seawall-dyke in the world. The Seawall was officially open to the public on 27 April 2010.