‘Population’ New Approach First Announced... Focus on Solutions to Local Extinction
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 1st that Gangjin-gun's 'Fuso' has been selected as one of the representative cases related to the project to increase the living population, drawing renewed attention as a new solution to local extinction.
According to Gangjin-gun on the 8th, this is the first time the Ministry of the Interior and Safety has announced the living population calculation, reflecting a lifestyle with increased mobility and activity due to advances in transportation and communication, and it is evaluated as a government-level recognition that the concept and approach to population are changing.
The living population is a concept that adds the resident population (resident registration, registered foreigners) and the staying population (staying at least 3 hours once a month). The Ministry of the Interior and Safety is known to have used data combining resident registration information, foreigner registration domestic residence report information, and pseudonymized mobile communication data from the three major telecom companies for this survey.
The seven pilot cities calculated by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (Danyang-gun, Chungbuk; Boryeong-si, Chungnam; Cheorwon-gun, Gangwon; Yeongam-gun, Jeonnam; Yeongcheon-si, Gyeongbuk; Gochang-gun, Jeonbuk; Geochang-gun, Gyeongnam) all have a staying population far exceeding the resident registration population, and are expected to become a new standard for population calculation in the future.
In this announcement, Gangjin Fuso was introduced as a living population increase project case in the 'accommodation experience' field, as a living tourism program that offers healing through rural homestays and rural experiences.
Gangjin 'Fuso (FUSO)', which has become a benchmark for other cities and counties and a synonym for stay-type rural tourism programs, is an abbreviation of Feeling-Up, Stress-Off, meaning to raise emotions and relieve stress. It is also used with the double meaning of the Jeolla dialect words for 'to unload' or 'to put down.'
Since May 2015, Gangjin-gun has developed Fuso in various forms over the past eight years by changing the subjects and themes of Fuso, starting with Student Fuso, then General Fuso, One Week Living in Gangjin Fuso, and Public Official Fuso Integrity Education. So far, 57,645 people have visited, generating 5.28245 billion KRW in farm household income.
The county plans to showcase Fuso as an attractive product that provides not only an influx of living population but also housing and jobs simultaneously through its multifaceted changes.
Additionally, in March last year, the county enacted the 'Ordinance on the Operation of the Gangjin-gun Cyber Honorary Citizen System' to attract a large influx of living population to Gangjin-gun, announcing the start of securing a 'new concept of Gangjin citizens' different from the resident registration base.
The ordinance shows a strategy to ultimately increase the living population by building close ties with many people connected to Gangjin through Fuso, hometown love donations, and purchases of agricultural specialty products, providing information, facilitating direct transactions of specialties, offering discounts on cultural and tourism facility admission fees, and invitations to performances and events.
In particular, Gangjin-gun held a vision declaration ceremony related to attracting tourists through 'Half-Price Gangjin Tourism' at the 2024 New Year's ceremony, announcing plans to focus on family-unit urban tourists.
If 'Half-Price Gangjin Tourism' increases the number of stay visitors alongside the festival that attracted 480,000 tourists last year, the effect on revitalizing Gangjin-gun's local economy is expected to be maximized, with an increase in the living population as an added benefit.
Gangjin-gun Governor Kang Jin-won stated, "The era of calculating population based solely on resident registration is over," and added, "Gangjin-gun will maximize stays of one night or more through 'Half-Price Gangjin Tourism' this year to increase the living population."
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