[One Day Ten Thousand Steps] Barefoot Walking Gains Popularity... Wonju City Declares, "We Will Become the Mecca of Barefoot Walking"

"22 years ago, I started creating barefoot walking paths with the conviction that barefoot walking could not only cure cancer but also alleviate and heal chronic diseases and Alzheimer's. This movement has since spread nationwide."

Park Dong-chang, chairman of the Barefoot Walking National Movement Headquarters, known as the 'Barefoot Walking Evangelist,' made these remarks at the launch ceremony of the 'Hamanha Stream National Movement Headquarters' held on June 15 at Namsan Hanok Village in Jung-gu. Chairman Park stated, "Simply walking alone does not completely solve health problems," adding, "The World Health Organization (WHO) has promoted walking exercises worldwide for the past 20 years, but the rate of increase in diseases has not slowed down at all. Both cancer and cardiovascular disease patients worldwide are on the rise." He emphasized that increasing contact with nature through barefoot walking could be a solution.

Chairman Park Dong-chang of the Barefoot Walking National Movement Headquarters and members are taking a commemorative photo at the Barefoot Walking event at Daemosan in Gangnam-gu on July 22.
[Photo by Barefoot Walking Movement Headquarters]

Chairman Park said, "Wild animals and trees, the surrounding living beings, all live healthily. We wear shoes and live in paved environments, leaving no space to connect with nature," adding, "To secure the right of our citizens to walk barefoot, we have proposed related legislative amendments in the National Assembly. Through these efforts, we will create an environment where anyone can walk barefoot."

With the efforts of Chairman Park and the movement headquarters, along with growing interest in barefoot walking, local governments nationwide are creating paths suitable for barefoot walking and promoting related events and educational programs. Amid this, Wonju City, a walking mecca, has taken the lead in barefoot walking. On the 27th, Wonju announced the declaration of the nation’s first 'Trekking City' and plans to actively promote a healthy city and tourism city utilizing trekking. To this end, the 'Wonju Barefoot Walking Festival' will be held on September 2 around the Ungok Solbaram Forest Trail in Haenggu-dong. The Wonju Barefoot Walking Festival will be conducted as a unique and distinctive event to promote citizens' health, with about 500 participants.

Won Gang-su, Mayor of Wonju (center), is walking with residents at the 'Barammeori Mountain Trail Walking Festival' held on May 20 in Jijeong-myeon Enterprise City.
[Photo by Wonju City]

Wonju has developed over 50 walking travel courses and urban park forest trails totaling more than 600 km, including Chiaksan Dullegil, Wonju Gubigil, Seomgang Birch Forest Dullegil, and Innovation and Enterprise City Dullegil. The Ungok Solbaram Forest Trail is a barefoot walking hotspot, a 3 km section within a pine forest emitting phytoncides, where people of all ages can walk barefoot without burden. Wonju plans to brand itself as a 'City Good for Barefoot Walking' to promote the development and expansion of the trekking city project.

First, the city will select barefoot walking-friendly courses easily accessible to citizens, such as urban forests and parks, and expand convenience facilities like course maintenance and foot-washing stations. To activate barefoot walking in local schools, Wonju will cooperate with the Wonju Office of Education. Through proper theoretical and practical barefoot walking education, a 'Barefoot Walking Instructor Course' will be established to cultivate leaders with the qualifications and capabilities to promote barefoot walking.

Citizens participating in the 'Barefoot Walking Forest Healing School' hosted by the Barefoot Walking National Movement Headquarters are experiencing barefoot walking. [Asia Economy DB]

Additionally, participation from various institutions, including public institutions in the Innovation City, will be encouraged, and campaigns will be conducted to create a city-wide movement. Won Kang-soo, mayor of Wonju, said, "By declaring the nation’s first trekking city and holding the first Wonju Barefoot Walking Festival, we hope to contribute not only to citizens' health promotion but also to regional economic development through tourism commercialization."