Yoo In-chon, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, will visit cultural and tourism sites in the Gangwon region on the 7th and 8th. He plans to inspect various locations including Garwiyang Mountain in Jeongseon, Sokcho designated as a “Cultural City of Korea,” Goseong and Yanggu’s “Local 100” sites like the “DMZ Peace Road,” the Baekja Museum, and the Park Soo-geun Art Museum. He will listen to the opinions of local stakeholders during these visits. Members of the Korea.net Honorary Reporters, who promote Korea’s attractions worldwide, will accompany him.
On the 7th, Minister Yoo, along with Choi Seung-joon, the mayor of Jeongseon County, is scheduled to visit the Garwiyang Mountain cable car facility, which was a legacy of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. This tourist facility utilizes the gondola from the Alpine skiing venue of the Olympics. Between 2023 and 2024, about 380,000 people visited. The Ministry plans to support regional revitalization based on Winter Olympic legacies through tourism projects.
Later, Minister Yoo will visit Sokcho, recently designated as a “Cultural City of Korea.” He will visit Abai Village, a representative “Local 100” site in Sokcho, to hear about the city’s plans to realize the vision of “Sokcho, a City of Culinary Culture Woven with Taste.” He will conduct a meeting with participants of the Cultural City Project, including local cultural entrepreneurs and artists, at project sites like the “Seafood Collective Processing Center” and “Traveler Platform Deokjang.”
On the 8th, Minister Yoo will explore security and tourism sites in Goseong County, such as the Unification Observatory and DMZ Museum. The Unification Observatory, Korea’s northernmost point, is a meaningful place that marks the completion of the 4,500 km “Korea Dulle-gil” and is one of the Ministry’s “Local 100” selections. Yoo will walk the “DMZ Peace Road” Theme Route A, checking the route that starts at the Unification Observatory and includes the Coastal Observatory and the Communication Tunnel, extending to the Southern Limit Line.
In cooperation with the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry plans to reopen the DMZ Peace Road Theme Route B to the public starting November 9th. Route B had been restricted to the general public since 2023. Those interested can book in advance through the “Peace Road” website or the “Dureunubi” walking travel mobile app.
Minister Yoo will then move to Yanggu County to visit its “Local 100” sites, including the Yanggu Baekja Museum and Park Soo-geun Art Museum. He will tour the Baekja Museum’s exhibitions and the nearby Baektoma Village to assess facilities supporting local artists’ stable creation conditions. At the Park Soo-geun Art Museum, he will view exhibitions and meet local artists from Yanggu to exchange views.
The Yanggu Baekja Museum, founded in 2006, is a public museum specializing in ceramics. It houses more than 2,600 artifacts and modern works, including ceramics made from Yanggu’s renowned white clay. The Park Soo-geun Art Museum, established in 2002 on the home site of South Korea’s representative modern painter Park Soo-geun, consists of five exhibition halls housing over 970 pieces, including about 250 works by Park Soo-geun and various modern artworks.
Minister Yoo emphasized, “Cultural and tourism attractions and content that reflect the unique characteristics and stories of each region enhance local residents’ quality of life and pride while attracting visitors. The Ministry will promote these unique attractions and content to ensure more national and international visitors can experience the region’s charm. We will incorporate local voices into policies to revitalize and develop regions through culture.”