Korea Forest Service to Establish 'National Jideokwon Forest Healing Center' in Jirisan and Deogyusan Areas

A bird's-eye view of the National Jideokwon Forest Healing Center. Provided by the Korea Forest Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korea Forest Service is establishing the "National Jideok Region Forest Healing Center" as a forest healing hub utilizing forest resources in the Jirisan and Deogyusan areas.

According to the Korea Forest Service on the 3rd, the Jideok Region Forest Healing Center will begin construction within this year in Baegun-myeon, Jinan-gun, Jeonbuk, and is scheduled to be completed in 2023 with an area of 617 hectares.

The Jideok Region Forest Healing Center will be a large-scale, long-term stay forest healing facility following the "Dasrim" forest healing center established in Yeongju and Yecheon, Gyeongbuk, maximizing the forest's healing functions to care for visitors' "body and mind health."

Additionally, the Korea Forest Service plans to build the buildings with a differentiated structure emphasizing privacy protection and apply a design approach that facilitates accessibility for disabled users so that all visitors do not experience inconvenience when moving to specific facilities or locations.

Furthermore, by developing programs suitable for the operational nature of the Jideok Region Forest Healing Center and installing landscaping facilities harmonized with the surrounding forests, the center aims to become a "space where anyone wants to stay" and a "pleasant space visitors want to return to."

The Korea Forest Service will establish the Jideok Region Forest Healing Center through a basic design technical proposal method, where the selected company from a creative technical proposal will carry out detailed design and construction in an integrated manner.

Lee Hyun-joo, head of the Forest Education and Healing Division at the Korea Forest Service, said, "The Jideok Region Forest Healing Center will be established as a forest healing hub in the southwestern region, equipped with healing infrastructure capable of responding to the diversifying future forest demand and providing high-quality forest healing programs." She added, "To this end, the Korea Forest Service will reflect the matters discussed during the design review process in the detailed design to create a distinctive premium forest healing center."