Korea has ten rice paddy fields that have been excavated by archaeologists. Ulsan’s Okhyun and Yaumdong sites, both from the early Mumun pottery period, are the two oldest.

Korea has been cultivating paddy fields for thousands of years. Carbonized rice grains and radiocarbon dates from a pit house at the Daecheon-ni site suggest that dry-field rice cultivation in the Korean Peninsula may have begun as early as the Middle Jeulmun pottery period (3500–2000 BC). Institutes like the Kyungnam University Museum (KUM) of Masan have carefully unearthed ancient paddy fields in Korea.

At the Geumcheon-ni Site near Miryang in South Gyeongsang Province, they dug up features of paddy fields. A pit-house dating to the latter half of the Early Mumun pottery period (ca. 1100–850 BC) was discovered next to the paddy field feature. At Yaeum-dong and Okhyeon, both in the present-day Ulsan, KUM has carried out excavations that have revealed paddy field features that are similarly dated.

Typically, the earliest Mumun features were found in low-lying, narrow gullies that were naturally swampy and fed by the local stream system. In flat areas, some Mumun paddy fields were a series of squares and rectangles separated by bunds about 10 centimeters high. On the other hand, terraced paddy fields were long, irregular shapes that followed the natural contours of the land at different levels.