High1 Extends Helping Hands to Impoverished

The resort helps residents in areas with abandoned mines to stand on their own feet with various support

High1 Resort Co., a major affiliate of Kangwon Land, has had great success in its projects aimed at turning the dilapidated abandoned-mine areas in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province, into a thriving gambling and family resort.
The resort went further and made a name through its social service projects in the neighboring towns by supporting education and cultural projects in those communities with an annual budget of 2.3 billion won.
The resort's social service activities around the region's former mining towns have been seen as astounding, aimed at helping to build education and culture facilities, which had been poor to say the least.
The High1 education and cultural projects have been geared toward helping the residents in those mountainous and isolated towns receive an adequate education and enjoy culture facilities.
The High1 Happy School, which the resort has been operating since 2008, is aimed at middle and high school students in the former mining areas. The project has been aimed at the voluntary participation of local townsfolk in the development of their education facilities with select schools receiving 100 million won in support funds and consulting from the Together Education Institute.
Gangwon-do Book Start has the motto "Let's start life with books," and gives a bag of books to babies the first time they are brought to a medical clinic after their birth. The program was first initiated in Great Britain in 1992.
High1 Resort has been presenting a bag of books to babies who are up to 24 months old under the program through the Book Reading Social Cultural Foundation along with the help of 68 organizations.
Kangwon Land runs not only casino businesses, but also total leisure businesses at High1 Resort. Aiming to become a global family leisure town, Kangwon Land is leading a new chapter in the tourism/leisure industry.
There are a total of 17 casinos in Korea, but 16 of them are for foreigners only. Kangwon Land Hotel & Casino is the only casino in Korea that allows Koreans to gamble, as prescribed by a special act of parliament.
Kangwon Land is creating a new tourism/leisure environment with the goal of becoming a family resort, and will make continuous efforts to enlarge and expand.
Kangwon Land will continue to develop new growth engines and work towards opening a window of opportunity for people who worked at the now-abandoned mines.
Kangwon Land received the 2009 Social Contribution Enterprise Award following winning the awards in 2007 and 2008.
Contributing to the development of local communities in Gangwon Province, which lagged behind compared to the rest of Korea, is one of the main missions of Kangwon Land.
In particular, the event in which they provided running shoes was seen as a miracle. Kangwon Land will keep sharing what it earns with the local communities to add to these great success stories. nw

(Clockwise) A scene of the performance of a Korean traditional musical instrument at High1 Resort; Children of closed mine towns are gathered at a High1 Resort event for them; A scene of an English speech contest for students in the abandoned mine towns sponsored by High1.

Photos on courtesy of High1