Jungnang-gu Hosts '2022 Seoul Rose Festival'... 3D Character 'Baegaki' Guides at 10 Attractions Around Blue House Area

[Seoul District News] Jungnang-gu Hosts Performances and Experience Programs with Themes like Children, Parents, and Rose Week at Junghwa Sports Park, Myeonmok Sports Park, and Jungnang Rose Park until the 22nd... Jongno-gu Offers 3D Character ‘Baegaki’ Guided Tours to Enhance Understanding of Each Site, Along with Photo Ops with Emperor Gojong and Games like Disc Throwing with Military Dogs... Dongdaemun-gu Opens Continuous Recruitment from the 6th for Companies Participating in the ‘2022 Local-Led Youth Job Project’

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Jungnang-gu is hosting the '2022 Seoul Rose Festival,' the most beautiful festival in Seoul, until the 22nd of this month.

Held under the theme 'Invitation to Everyday Life, Jungnang is Great!' at Junghwa Sports Park, Myeonmok Sports Park, and Jungnang Rose Park, this year's Seoul Rose Festival carries the meaning of offering comfort to residents and supporting the recovery of daily life.

The 2022 Seoul Rose Festival operates programs under three themes: children, elders, and roses. The 'Children's Week,' consisting of performances and experience programs to enjoy with children, was held from May 5th to 7th, coinciding with Children's Day. The 'Elders' Week,' running from May 8th to 12th, includes programs such as 'Rose Movie Night' for parents and visitors. From May 15th to 22nd is the 'Rose Week,' which opens with the rose blooming ceremony. Starting with the blooming ceremony on the 15th, featuring 'Plogging,' 'Rose Fashion Show,' and the blooming performance 'Jungnang, People Flower,' visitors can enjoy the scenery of fully bloomed roses.

The bicycle training ground within Junghwa Sports Park transforms into the festival-exclusive Rose Castle to welcome visitors. The Rose Castle, where busking performances by Jungnang artists take place, will operate with a limited admission of 500 people.

Additionally, at Myeonmok Sports Park, the 'Gyeomjaegyo Dance Festival' will be held on the 14th, and 'Kim Seonghwan's Rose Singing Contest' with actor Kim Seonghwan will take place on the 15th.

This year, a special festival poster was also prepared, featuring residents smiling brightly. Later, a mosaic-style banner will be created by collecting photos of 2,022 participants in the festival.

The festival also pursues an environmentally friendly event by conducting the 'ZEROse Waste' campaign. It produces paper bags made from recycled paper called 'Useful Posters' and minimizes the production of banners and other materials to aim for a zero-waste festival. Especially on the last day of the festival, a plogging program called 'Rose Run! Run! Pick Up!' will be held, where participants run along the Jungnangcheon section and pick up trash.

Yu Kyung-ae, CEO of the Jungnang Cultural Foundation, which organizes the 2022 Seoul Rose Festival, said, "This year, we prepared various programs that residents can participate in and designed the festival to be environmentally friendly. We hope everyone visiting the Seoul Rose Festival, a representative flower festival of Seoul, enjoys it."

For more details about the 2022 Seoul Rose Festival, please check the official festival website or the festival's official SNS channels such as Facebook and Instagram.

Jongno-gu is launching an 'AR (Augmented Reality) service' that uses friendly 3D characters developed in-house to guide visitors through several local attractions located around Cheongwadae and Baegaksan, starting from the 10th of this month.

This AR service, jointly promoted by the district office, the Presidential Transition Committee's Cheongwadae Relocation TF, the Cultural Heritage Administration, SK Telecom, and Morphinteractive, covers a total of 10 sites of outstanding historical and cultural value, including ▲ Manse Dongbang Spring ▲ Old Military Dog Training Ground ▲ Hanyangdoseong Side Path ▲ Baegakmaru ▲ Candle Rock Rest Area ▲ January 21 Incident Pine Tree ▲ Cheongwadae Helicopter Landing Zone, aiming to help residents and tourists understand and preserve Jongno's rich historical and cultural resources.

To this end, Jongno-gu and the Cultural Heritage Administration conducted academic research on Baegaksan, a nationally designated cultural heritage site, and based on thorough verification by a professor specializing in Joseon Dynasty costume history, the 3D character 'Baegaki' was created.

Users can install the JUMP application (produced by SK Telecom) on their phones, access it, and either scan the guide signs on-site or select locations to have Baegaki appear, providing explanations about the site along with hidden stories related to each place.

At Manse Dongbang, visitors can listen to Baegaki's explanations and take commemorative photos with a king character. At the old military dog training ground, they can enjoy a frisbee game with a military dog. On the Hanyangdoseong side path, visitors can learn about fortress construction techniques from different eras. At Baegakmaru, they can experience a UFO shooting game based on the 1976 incident when an unidentified flying object entered the airspace above Cheongwadae.

At the Candle Rock Rest Area, based on records of ancestors hunting tigers on Baegaksan, visitors can take commemorative photos with a tiger and a roe deer. Inside Cheongwadae, visitors can meet fun content where Baegaki descends from a helicopter at the helicopter landing zone used by past presidents to greet them.

This AR development stands out for using 'volumetric' core video technology, which brings the 'real world' into the metaverse virtual space, producing vivid images of the King Gojong character as if real.

An official from the district office said, "With the full opening of Bukaksan last month and the opening of Cheongwadae on the 10th, the number of tourists visiting this area is expected to increase significantly. Therefore, Jongno-gu and various institutions joined hands to widely promote the value of the historical and cultural resources in this area and created the AR service to guide visitors at each location. We hope residents and tourists listen to Baegaki's explanations, take photos with the king, and create precious memories."

Dongdaemun-gu (Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol) is recruiting additional participating companies and participants for the '2022 Local Government-Led Youth Job Project' to support youth job creation and sustainable economic activities.

The '2022 Local Government-Led Youth Job Project' is a program that provides youth with opportunities to gain job experience and improve their capabilities, while supporting local companies and institutions by subsidizing labor costs to help them hire talented individuals.

The additional recruitment targets social economy enterprises, public service institutions, and community contribution companies within the district, and recruitment is ongoing without a separate application period until positions are filled.

The recruitment fields include ▲ jobs linked to local specialties and social economy that combine work experience and job training ▲ jobs related to local services and social safety nets in community contribution fields ▲ jobs with development potential and sustainability considering youth aptitude and demand. Manual labor and clerical assistant jobs are excluded.

Participants must be youth aged 39 or younger residing in Dongdaemun-gu and can apply starting from the 16th. Participating companies will receive labor cost support of up to 2.06 million KRW per month for youth assigned during the approximately eight-month project period and can also receive support such as job competency enhancement programs provided by the district for youth working at the project sites.

Companies and participants wishing to join the project can submit the required documents via email, in-person visit, or registered mail. Detailed information is available on the Dongdaemun-gu Office website under the public notices section, and inquiries can be made by phone to the Job Policy Division.

An official from the district said, "We aim to actively create jobs with the local community to revitalize youth employment. We will continue to provide various supports so that local youth can gain job experience and strengthen their employment capabilities through this project and others."