Jinju, the center of knowledge, environment and culture in Gyeongnam, is sharing boundaries with Sacheon and Goseung to the south, Masan to the west, Hadong to the east, and Sancheong and Uiryong to the north. As of now, the city, which is located on the western part of South Gyeongsang Province, is taking up 6.8% of the total land surface area of the Gyeongnam with an area of 712.62㎢. The total area ranks 50th among 234 local self-governing bodies in Korea, and 6th in Gyeongsangnam Province. It is 43.7km long from east to west and 33.2km long from south to north. As of Decmeber, 2005, it has the population of 337,728 with 119,270 households, and is divided into 1 town, 15 subcounties, and 21 dongs.

Jinju has a high temperature and humid oceanic climate in the summer and forms a basin constituted of group of mountains, having a lot of topographical rain. The average annual temperature is around 13.3°C, while the average temperature during the month of January is around 0.1°C and that during the month of August is around 25.9°C. It has 1,200mm of rainfall on average each year.

Jinju is developed around the upper reaches of Nam River, which is the branch of Nakdong River. Agriculture and industries were developed around the Nam River and the water of Nam River has been used for agricultural and commercial water. People have been taking the Nam River valley as the grounds of living.

Jinju is a strategic point of the transportation with Namhae Expressway and Daejeon- Tongyeong Expressway, the local roads No.2, No.3 and No.23, Sancheon Airport and the train line, Gyeongjeon railway. It connects Yeong-Honam Area and central-south area of Korea.

Jinju, as the rural and urban compound city, has a larger portion of agriculture compared to other cities. It is the city of the agricultural technology, which started the greenhouse gardening for the first time in Korea with the fertile earth, the proper weather. Jinju is exporting to Japan and other Southeast Asian countries the crops such as cucumber, strawberries, peppers, watermelons, pimento, paprika and squashes as well as the local agricultural specialties like Jinju pears and sweet persimmons. As of December 2005, the number of companies registered in Jinju was 25,474 and the employees numbered 96,861. In 2006 alone, total trade amount in Jinju recorded US$ 811Million, with US$438Million in exports and US$373Million in imports.

From old times, Jinju was a fountainhead of national culture and spirit. As a city that has held 1,000-year-old historical heritage of the ancient city, Jinju has been well renowned as a home of patriotic spirit, education, culture and art.