Gangwon Province Strives to Be
Tourism Hub of Northeast Asia
Developing its own unique, attractive tourism resources

Gangwon Province, already recognized as one of the best destinations in Korea, is doing its utmost to develop its own unique, attractive tourism products by capitalizing on a bountiful of maritime, mountainous, rivers, traditional culture, leisure sports and nighttime entertainment.
In particular, Gangwon Province, a province divided by the Demilitarized Zone(DMZ), the last vestige of the Cold War, has begun to show a keen interest in the development of such tourist courses related to the ecological and environmental aspects in the DMZ and other once-civilian passage restriction areas. The province boasts many historical and cultural heritages like hard-fought fields of the Korean War (1950-53) as well as the Labor Party Headquarters and the Second Tunnel dug by North Korea. Among the DMZ areas with intrinsic value in the ecological and environmental perspectives are the migratory bird site in Cheorwon, Yongnup on Mt. Daeam-san, Yanggu-gun, and Hyangro-bong Peak, Lee Kong-woo, director general of the Environment, Tourism and Culture at the Gangwon provincial government said.
In an interview with NewsWorld, Lee said his government has set its 2005 target - attracting about 72 million Korean visitors, up 3 percent from 2004 and 1.5 million foreign visitors, up 5 percent rise over a year earlier. The following are the excerpts of the interview.
Question: Could you tell our readers about the strategies to attract foreign tourists related to hallyu, Korean Wave sweeping Asia ?
Answer: The Gangwon provincial government aims to lure about 72 million Koreans in 2005, up 3 percent from 2004 and 1.5 million foreign tourists, a 5 percent increase.
In an effort to attract tourists' attention, Gangwon Province has put more energy into developing its own unique, attractive tourism resources into tourism products - rural, mountainous and fishing amenities, traditional culture, leisure sports and nighttime entertainment. During this year, the provincial government is nearing construction of such theme tourist spots with high added value, including a meeting place of Korean soldiers dispatched during the Vietnamese War, tourism and cultural village for reunions of estranged families from South and North Korea, a sculpture park in Chuam, Donghae City, an ecological tourist spot in Jeongseon, rafting and other adventure sports along the Naerin-cheon Stream in Inje.
In this regard, the provincial government plans to step up activities aimed at publicizing major tourist spots. It is building a human network, including sports and tourism public relations ambassadors while expanding the scope of familiarization tour programs targeting foreign media people and tourist agency officials to American and European markets.
Gangwon Province is focusing on cultivating tourist programs designed to meet diverse needs according to the markets - theme resorts, industrial tour courses, hallyu-related tour programs, casino and drama location tours catering to Chinese tourists; tours related to "Winter Sonata," a Korean mega hit TV drama, tour courses for the elderly and beauty, sports events and school excursions for luring Japanese tourists; snow, skiing tour programs, honeymoon trips, and corporate incentive tour programs for luring inbound foreigners from Southeast Asia; and tour programs offering experiences on traditional culture such as Taekwondo demonstration shows and temple stay, designed to attract tourists from the Americans and Europe.
As part of its special programs to promote the local tourism industry, the provincial government is also trying to capitalize on the hallyu fever blowing across Asia by developing tour programs related to the latest film "April Snow" that recently made a strong showing in Japan, trailing the popularity of Winter Sonata. Twenty-four leisure and sports competitions will be held across the province this year. Ten projects were and will be conducted around the year in celebration of the 60th anniversary of creation of the DMZ.
Q: Do you have any plans to develop the DMZ into ecological and tourist resources?
A: Gangwon Province is Korea's only divided province, bearing witness to the division of the Korean Peninsula, celebrating the 60th anniversary. DMZ is home to Gangwon Province as the province covers 68.8 percent of the total DMZ area or 1,048 sq. km. The 145 km-long track of the DMZ or 60 percent of the DMZ? total length belongs to Gangwon Province, which boasts many historical and cultural heritages like hard-fought fields of the Korean War (1950-53) as well as the Labor Party Headquarters and the Second Tunnel dug by North Korea, all the vestiges of the Cold War. Among the DMZ areas with intrinsic value in the ecological and environmental perspectives are the migratory bird site in Cheorwon, Yongnup on Mt. Daeam-san, Yanggu-gun, and Hyangro-bong Peak.
In celebration of the 60th anniversary of liberation from Japanese colonial rule and the division of the Korean Peninsula, the provincial government has organized or will organize 10 projects, including an international forum on the ecology of the 60-year-old DMZ, a DMZ relay competition, and a concert on the DMZ.
Gangwon Province is still implementing three major projects designed to transform the ecology of the DMZ and the vestiges of the division of the Korean Peninsula into international historical and cultural attractions. The inter-Korean exchange town project calls for construction of a DMZ museum, an inter-Korean exchange center for reunions of estranged families from South and North Korea on an area of 143,000 sq. meters in Myeongho-ri, Hyeonnae-myeon, Goseong-gun, between 2002 and 2008. The projected Peace and Culture Plaza in Cheorwon, at the heart of efforts to ensure peace and realize reunification, will house a peace plaza, a historical museum on living, a peace memorial museum, and a permanent performance hall in a 274,000-square meter area near Weoljeong-ri Station in Dongsong-up, Cheorwon-gun.
The provincial government is developing tourist courses cashing in on military firing ranges, training camps and other military facilities as well as ecological resources like the migratory bird site in Cheorwon and Dutayeon, Yanggu, whose ecological and environmental resources are well preserved thanks of its former location as the civilian passage restriction areas. It plans to set up Korea? largest ecological experience, study and research belt designed to make the most use of the ecological value of Paekdudaegan, a mountain range, and the DMZ, while developing the migratory bird site into a globally recognized crane habitat.
Q: Would you elaborate on the plans to promote inter-Korean reconciliation and revitalize the tourism industry between South and North Korea?
A: The government's project to promote tours to North Korea, particularly to Mt. Geumgang in the North, has brought about the sagging tourism industry of the Mt. Seorak tourism sphere. It is natural partly due to domestic short-haul tour courses, most comprising less than two nights and three days and no difference between Mt. Geumgang and Mt. Seorak.
In the long-term perspective, the Gangwon provincial government is seeking to develop Mt. Seorak together with Mt. Geumgang into an international free tourism zone and a pan-East Sea tourism center. It is considering a strategy to differentiate one from the other and compliment each other with a focus on developing the Mt. Seorak sphere into an urban entertainment- and deluxe accommodation-oriented one and transforming the Mt. Geumgang area into a mountainous and maritime tourist center. The provincial government had channeled 76.6 billion won into 16 projects related to the Mt. Seorak-Mt. Geumgang tourism development plans. For 2005, 20.7 billion won, including 10.1 billion won from national coffers, is earmarked for the expansion of approach roads to the Mt. Seorak area, including Road No. 7 between Samcheok and Goseong, Seorak-dong housing redevelopment and other projects.
Q: Will you give the details of plans to develop maritime ecological resources of the East Coast?
A: Our provincial government is trying to devise new development strategies to meet the changes in the forthcoming launch of an pan-East Sea era, while focusing on an advancement of existing projects and make them substantial.
As part of its efforts to build up tourism infrastructure corresponding to that of advanced countries, Gangwon Province is striving to develop Yangyang International Airport into a tourist airport hub and designate the airport into an "Open-sky"one.

The provincial government is pushing ahead with plans to transform Sokcho and Donghae ports into tourist cruise ones.
The province is working on ecological park development projects along the East Coast, including a maritime museum in Whajinpo, Goseong, a scuba diving spot in Sokcho, a lakeside promenade road in Hyangho, Gangneung, and a cave cluster in Samcheok. The East Coast has emerged as a magnet for luring Korean travelers who have surged in the wake of the implementation of the five-day workweek system. Gangwon Province is expanding such facilities as mid- and lower-priced pensions, while cultivating entertainment tour programs and the so-called green tour products linked to stay to farmers?houses, tourist orchards and natural forest areas in a bid to satisfy a rising demand from weekend tourists.
The provincial government is repeatedly asking for the central government to designate the Mt. Seorak-Mt. Geumgang tourism sphere into a free international city, an equivalent to Jeju Free International City, in a bid to develop the Gangwon area into a tourism hub of Northeast Asia. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism is studying a master plan to develop the East Coast area into a mountainous, maritime tourism & cultural belt calling for the division of three types of tourist areas - maritime, mountain and a combination of both.
Gangwon Province is seeking to establish the "Peace Sea Vision,"a new concept for developing the pan-East Coast tourism sphere after consultations by the consultation committee of the three cities of the East Sea and work out new tourism policies under the vision.
Q: Would you introduce tourist festivals and events your province can offer according to the change of the season?
A: Gangwon Province has as many as 100 festivals and events, large and small, around the year.
During the spring, the province offers such festivals combining mountainous greens and unique culture of each district as a cherry blossom festival, an azalea festival, the King Danjong Cultural Festival in Yeongweol and Chuncheon International Mime Festival.
Gangwon Province holds "Cooling-off" festivals combining the sea, rivers and mountains plus high-class classical music in an effort to help visitors relieve the heat of the sultry summer. For an instance, the Great Mountains Music Festival & School (GMMFS), being held at Yongpyong Resort, turns out to be successful with a performance by International Sejong Soloists (ISS), a New York-based ensemble, created in 1995 under the musical direction of Hyo Kang, a renowned violin professor at the Juilliard School.
During the autumn, the province offers such festivals based on the production of its rich, unique things to eat, including buckwheat noodles, pine mushrooms and potatoes. Hyosuk (Korean poet) Cultural Festival is an example of festivals symbolizing the encounter of the nature and literature in time for blooming buckwheat flowers. Such festivals utilizing a bountiful of snow and freezing weather and sunrise as the Inje Smelt Festival, Mt. Taebaek Snow Festival and Daegwallyong Snow Festival and sunrise sighting in the East Sea are waiting tourists during the winter. The provincial government launched the Sports & Tourism Fair, an annual festival it hopes organize in order to promote the leisure-sport industry by capitalizing on the provinces' natural gifts - mountains, the sea, rivers and valleys. nw

A breathtaking view of Mt. Seorak, Gangwon Province. The mountain offers different and unique colors and features according to four seasons.

Lee Kong-woo, director general of the Environment, Tourism and Culture at the Gangwon provincial government

Rafting at Naerin-cheon Stream in Inje is one of leisure sporting activities available across the province.