A Rural Area You Want to Live In, 'Oxygen Cafe Cheongsong-gun'... Focusing on Improving Residential Environment and Securing Farming Workforce

Cheongsong-gun, Gyeongbuk Province, has set the goal of "creating a happy rural space where anyone wants to live" this year, and plans to invest 22.9 billion KRW in various projects to expand rural residential service functions and promote vitality.

Cheongsong County Office.

To this end, the county plans to take the lead in creating a happy Cheongsong by revitalizing the countryside through systematic rural spatial maintenance, creating desirable rural villages, pleasant and planned urban construction, urban regeneration of deteriorated downtown areas, and resolving rural labor shortages through detailed project implementation.

First, to maintain rural spaces and create desirable villages, the Cheongsong-eup Rural Hub Activation Project will invest 18.2 billion KRW to build a new Cheongsong-eup Administrative and Cultural Center. The Cheongsong-eup Office has been temporarily relocated to the Cheongsong-gun Gymnasium, and demolition and new construction orders are expected to be issued within the first half of the year.

This is expected to significantly enhance basic living infrastructure and improve the quality of life for local residents, with the Cheongsong-eup Administrative and Cultural Center playing a key role as a rural hub connected to surrounding villages.

On Geumwol-ro in Cheongsong-eup, a total budget of 5.5 billion KRW, including 2 billion KRW from KEPCO and telecommunications companies and 3.5 billion KRW from the county, will be used to underground utility poles and communication poles, creating streets free of overhead wires to improve the clean and pleasant image. Alongside the undergrounding project, sidewalks will be renovated to secure safe pedestrian spaces.

This year, a 18 billion KRW public contest project application is underway for rural spatial maintenance, with evaluations in March and final results expected in April.

This project, to be implemented over five years starting in 2023, involves demolishing seven livestock barns, twelve cattle and dog shelters, and seven other warehouses over an area of 37,689㎡ in the Deok-ri area of Cheongsong-eup, expected to resolve chronic complaints such as odor and noise.

After removing harmful facilities, public rental housing, agricultural training farms, and rural community complex cultural centers will be established to restructure rural spaces and create a pleasant residential environment by building infrastructure for housing, jobs, and welfare services.

Additionally, village-making projects and vulnerable area living condition improvement projects will enhance safe living infrastructure and improve residential environments through remodeling village halls, expanding village entrances, repairing fences, maintaining village rest areas, and removing slate roofs, while supporting resident capacity-building education to improve quality of life.

Furthermore, 1 district in Bunam-myeon and 4 districts in Jinbo-myeon will receive 1.3 billion KRW in county funds to maintain urban planning roads, establishing a systematic residential foundation. The Cheongsong-gun management plan (land use zones, district unit plans) will be reorganized to build a systematic development and conservation system and resolve chronic complaints about county planning facilities, thereby enhancing trust in administration.

Through urban regeneration projects, the deteriorated downtown areas of Cheongsong-eup and Jinbo-myeon will be transformed into new environments.

The Jinbo-Jinan District Urban Regeneration New Deal Project, with a budget of 16.5 billion KRW, is currently implementing detailed projects such as constructing a complex community center, renovating safe living streets, remodeling village halls and welfare centers, repairing old houses, and regional capacity-building projects, aiming for completion by the end of next year.

In particular, in connection with the Urban Regeneration New Deal Project, the undergrounding of power lines on Jinbo-ro will be promoted to create streets without overhead wires, significantly contributing to improving the clean image of "Oxygen Cafe Cheongsong-gun."

Also, the Cheongsong Geumgok District Urban Regeneration Recognition Project is constructing the “5080 Youth Life Center” complex community center in Geumgok-ri, Cheongsong-eup, with a budget of 9.8 billion KRW. Through this, the county plans to create an integrated communication space and operate programs such as startup support, health culture, and hobby activities to promote social integration and community spirit centered on the 5080 middle-aged generation.

To lay the foundation for stable farming and resolve labor shortages, various support projects will be implemented to invigorate rural areas.

The "Living in the Countryside" program offers urban residents wishing to return to farming or rural living opportunities for lodging and rural experiences, while supporting returning farmers with farming technology and information acquisition activities to help them settle stably and nurture future agricultural manpower.

Along with this, six rural experience and recreation villages with diverse tourism resources will be supported to provide urban residents with rural experience opportunities, which is also expected to contribute to various local revenue generation.

In particular, to address labor shortages in rural areas, Cheongsong-gun will operate the Agricultural Job Support Center and a foreign seasonal worker program.

The Agricultural Job Support Center will provide about 4,000 workers to 350 farms for agricultural tasks such as apple thinning, chili pepper harvesting, and apple harvesting. The foreign seasonal worker program will support about 630 workers for 110 farms through MOUs with foreign local governments and invitations of family and relatives of marriage immigrants.

To improve the welfare of female farmers who juggle heavy agricultural work and household chores, various projects such as support for farming helpers for childbirth households, happiness vouchers, agricultural work convenience equipment, and shared meal facilities will be implemented to boost female farmers' motivation for farming and improve their quality of life.

Governor Yoon Kyung-hee said, "We will create a vibrant and desirable Cheongsong-gun by improving the quality of life for residents and creating a pleasant and beautiful residential environment."