Gokseong Guwon District Selected for Rural Space Improvement Project by Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

Secured 9 Billion KRW Including 4.5 Billion KRW in National Funding for Public Project

Gokseong-gun, Jeollanam-do (Governor Lee Sang-cheol) announced that the Guwon district has been selected for the ‘2023 Rural Space Maintenance Contest Project’ hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

With this selection, Gokseong-gun secured a total of 9 billion KRW, including 4.5 billion KRW in national funding.

[Photo by Gokseong-gun]

The project aims to demolish harmful facilities such as livestock barns necessary for rural spatial restructuring and create spaces for village residents on the renovated sites.

It is a key project promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to improve residents’ living environment and quality of life.

The Guwon district, the project site in Gokseong-gun, has a dense concentration of livestock barns such as pigsties, chicken coops, and quail houses, causing ongoing inconvenience to nearby village residents due to foul odors.

Especially in summer, the odor damage from the barns extends to the Gokseong-eup downtown area, which is over 2 km away.

Additionally, the livestock facilities are located on the route to major tourist attractions in Gokseong-gun, such as Dorimsa National Tourist Complex and Gokseong Seomjingang Train Village, acting as a factor hindering tourism revitalization.

Due to these issues, the demolition of livestock barns and site maintenance are urgently needed.

Accordingly, the Guwon district rural space maintenance project in Gokseong-gun will be carried out over five years starting this year, aiming to create “a new cultural living space revived through rural space maintenance in Guwon district.”

The plan is to demolish livestock barns within the project site, purchase approximately 33,000㎡ of land, and develop it into cultural and sports spaces such as convenience facilities for residents, ecological parks, and walking trails.

Lee Sang-cheol, Governor of Gokseong-gun, said, “I hope this contest selection will improve the suffering of residents near the project site caused by the odor from livestock facilities and serve as a catalyst for revitalizing tourism in the county.”

Gokseong = Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Cha Jong-seon hss79@asiae.co.kr