World Bodypainting Festival 2010, Daegu, South Korea

Daegu is the city of the manufacturing industry. The major industries are textiles, metals and machinery. The quality of the apples grown around the city is renowned around Korea. Many companies such as Daegu Bank, Korea Delphi, Hwasung corp., and TaeguTec are situated in this city, and Samsung and Kolon were founded here. Numerous factories are located in the industrial complexes situated in the west and north sides of the city including the Seongseo Industrial Complex, West Daegu Industrial Complex and the Daegu Dyeing Industrial Complex.
The city is the economic and industrial core of the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region, one of the major industrial areas in Korea. It accounted for as much as 94 percent of Korea's trade surplus in 2006. The electronics industries in Gumi and the steel industries in Pohang provided great services to that surplus. World-leading manufacturing facilities for Anycall (Samsung Mobile) and POSCO's main factories are located near the city. Daegu and its neighbouring cities were designated for the Daegu-Gyeongbuk Free Economic Zone by the central government in 2008. It is specialized in knowledge-based service and manufacturing industries.
Historically, Daegu has been the commercial center of the southern part of the Korean Peninsula with Seoul in the center and Pyongyang in the north (currently North Korea), because of its advantageous location. Some of the large, traditional markets like Seomun Market are still flourishing in the city.
Additionally, Daegu was considered the third major economic city in Korea, after Seoul and Busan. However, due to the decline of the textile industry, which is the heart of Daegu's economy, the overall economic growth of the city has also fallen.