Nam Seong-hyun, Administrator of the Korea Forest Service, is delivering a commemorative speech at the groundbreaking ceremony for the 'Dongseo Trail' project held on the 28th at Manghyangjeong in Uljin-gun, Gyeongbuk. Photo by Korea Forest Service
[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korea Forest Service has taken the first step in the creation of the ‘Dongseo Trail’ project.
On the 28th, the Korea Forest Service held a groundbreaking ceremony for the ‘Dongseo Trail’ project at Manghyangjeong in Uljin-gun, Gyeongbuk Province, which is both the starting and ending point of the trail, together with Gyeongsangbuk-do, Uljin-gun, and Woori Financial Group.
The ‘Dongseo Trail’ is an 849 km forest path connecting Taean-gun, Chungnam Province, to Uljin-gun, Gyeongbuk Province, crossing the eastern and western parts of the Korean Peninsula. The route is divided into a total of 55 sections, with an average distance of 15 km per section.
The Korea Forest Service plans to select routes so that each section of the ‘Dongseo Trail’ begins and ends in a mountain village, allowing trail users to pass through these mountain villages. In addition to forest paths, 90 hub villages and 43 campsites will be established along the sections.
In particular, an environment will be created where mountain village residents at the hub villages can sell forest products and agricultural products to trail users, which is expected to revitalize each village.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the ‘Dongseo Trail’ was held for the first section, corresponding to Section 55, the trail from ‘Uljin Mangyangjeong to Ha-won-ri Jungseomgyo (15.7 km)’.
Previously, Woori Financial Group donated 800 million KRW to the Korea Mountaineering and Trekking Support Center as part of its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) management. The donation will be used for the creation of Section 55 of the Dongseo Trail.
Nam Sung-hyun, Administrator of the Korea Forest Service, said, “The creation of Section 55 of the Dongseo Trail will contribute to revitalizing the Uljin area and increasing the income of mountain villages in the region. The Korea Forest Service will also strive to make the Dongseo Trail a famous destination attracting tourists from around the world.”
Meanwhile, reflecting the recent spread of health and well-being culture and the steady increase in the population engaging in hiking and trekking (walking), the Korea Forest Service is establishing and promoting plans to create the ‘Dongseo Trail’.
According to a survey by the Korea Mountaineering and Trekking Support Center, the population hiking and trekking at least once every two months increased by 6 percentage points from 71% in 2018 to 77% in 2021.
Also, an analysis of 5.1 million hiking and trekking-related posts uploaded on blogs and cafes over the past 10 years confirmed that frequently used words shifted from goal-oriented terms such as ‘mountain climbing, summit, ascend’ to relaxation-related words such as ‘walk, cafe, trail’.
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