Shinan-gun's Innovative Policy Benchmarked Nationwide

Focus on Tourism Policy and Renewable Energy Benefit Sharing System

[Sinan=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Jae-kyung] Steps to learn innovative policies of Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do, are continuing nationwide.

On the 14th, a visiting team of 40 heads of 11 local governments from the Mayors and Governors Association and 13 director-level trainees in the senior policy course at the National Human Resources Development Institute visited Sinan-gun.

The Mayors and Governors Association visiting team is currently exploring the Hydrangea Festival venue on Dochodo Island, Anjwa Purple Island, and Byeongpungdo Island, the Pilgrim's Island, where the festival will be held on the 24th.

As the number of visitors to major tourist attractions in Sinan-gun steadily increases, they observe and listen to the trends of island tourism, which has established itself as a new tourism paradigm, and the process by which Purple Island became the best village selected by the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

On the same day, 13 director-level trainees, including Kim Young-jun (Supreme Prosecutors' Office) from the senior policy course at the National Human Resources Development Institute, visited Sinan-gun and held an onboard group discussion.

Amid the crisis of local extinction due to population decline, they analyzed and discussed with Park Woo-ryang, the mayor of Sinan-gun, the factors behind the slight increase in Sinan-gun's population by promoting the renewable energy profit-sharing system.

The profit-sharing project promoted by the county supports residents' participation in renewable energy projects and pays quarterly profits based on the distance between the project site and the village, ranging from a maximum of 600,000 KRW to a minimum of 110,000 KRW. This sunlight pension payment is cited as a factor for migration through returning to farming and rural areas.

Meanwhile, executives and trainees of the Korea National Defense University have been conducting regular monthly workshops in Sinan-gun since March.