Ministry of Culture Designates Eight Locations Including Gyeongju as 5th Preliminary Cultural Cities

Jeonnam Gwangyang, Seoul Seongdong-gu, Gangwon Sokcho Join In

On the 28th, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced that, following the review by the Cultural City Deliberation Committee, eight cities were designated as the 5th batch of preliminary cultural cities. These include Gyeongju-si, Gyeongbuk (The Rise of the Golden City), Gwangyang-si, Jeonnam (Cultural Trade City), Seongdong-gu, Seoul (Smart Cultural City), Sokcho-si, Gangwon (Coexistence Cultural City), Suyeong-gu, Busan (From Alley to Sea!), Jinju-si, Gyeongnam (Appropriate Cultural City), Chungju-si, Chungbuk (Into the Daily Lives of Citizens), and Hongseong-gun, Chungnam (Connected Organic Cultural City).

Cultural cities are designated under the Regional Culture Promotion Act to achieve sustainable regional development by utilizing distinctive cultural resources of each area and to enhance the cultural quality of life for residents. Local governments wishing to be designated must receive approval for a 'Cultural City Development Plan' through a public contest to be designated as preliminary cultural cities, and must carry out preliminary projects for one year using their own budgets. After the evaluation of the preliminary project performance and review by the Deliberation Committee, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism makes the final designation of cultural cities. So far, the Ministry has designated eighteen cultural cities and plans to designate six out of sixteen preliminary cultural cities in the 4th batch this year.