Kim Young-hak, a former harpooner on the whaler Myeongsin-ho, watches dolphins at an aquarium in the Jangsaengpo Whale Museum in the southeastern coastal city of Ulsan. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

By Shim Hyun-chul

The sun shines on the sea of Jangsaengpo in southeastern city of Ulsan. The water reminds one of the lyrics of Bobby Kim’s song “A Whale’s Dream,” with lines like “I’m a big whale of the ocean that starts on a journey standing on its white tail.”

Jangsaengpo, once the base of whaling in Korea, has the nation’s only museum dedicated to whales, the Jangsaengpo Whale Museum.

Opened in 2005, the museumhas received a facelift for the Ulsan Whale Festival 2012, which will be held from April 26 to 29.

The museum extensively covers the history of the city and whaling industry. The first exhibition hall features skeletons and bones of a Bryde’s whale and the second hall offers a life-size model and information on the gray whale.

Visitors can also experience live animals at its dolphin aquarium and costal aquarium. A 4D theater presents an animated film of a sperm whale and giant squid.

For more information, visit www.whalemuseum.go.kr or call (052) 256-6301.