Mayors Pouring Trillions and Shouting "Honey Fun" for Every Pledge but Are Actually "No Fun" [No Fun Cities]

[No Fun, Searching for Urban Enjoyment]
<4> The City Runs for Fun
① 'Memes' Become Local Election Policies
Mayors Who Promised Fun Cities Since Their Candidacy
Landmark Development and Expansion of Local Cultural Facilities Promises

Editor's NoteAre you familiar with the so-called 'No-Jam Cities,' meaning boring cities? These are cities lacking things to do, see, or enjoy, where locals feel bored and outsiders rarely visit. Since 2019, various cities have been labeled as No-Jam Cities on social media platforms. What started as a kind of meme for fun has evolved into local governments' 'Sweet Fun City Creation Projects' in places like Daejeon, Ulsan, Gwangju, and Cheongju. Are cities branded as No-Jam really dull and boring? What makes a city fun? We aim to reflect on the places and spaces where we live.

"We will work to imprint the image of Daejeon as a Sweet Fun City and help the 'Midnight Festival' leap into a world-class festival." - Lee Jang-woo, Mayor of Daejeon, June 13, Daejeon Bread Truck Nationwide Tour Event

"These days, Ulsan is a Sweet Fun City." - Kim Doo-gyeom, Mayor of Ulsan, June 24, Youth Ulsan Grand March U-Road Launch Ceremony

"We are making Gwangju a fun city where people want to stay and visit." - Kang Ki-jung, Mayor of Gwangju, January 8 this year, radio interview

"Cheongju, the 'Sweet Fun No.1'! We will create a joyful and livable Sweet Fun Happy City." - Lee Beom-seok, Mayor of Cheongju, New Year's address this year

The word 'Sweet Fun' has stuck to the mouths of local government mayors. This is the story of four cities?Daejeon, Ulsan, Gwangju, and Cheongju?that have made creating fun in their cities a core policy keyword. Since 2019, after being stigmatized as No-Jam Cities in online controversies, each city has embarked on making themselves Sweet Fun Cities. This internet trend content, a so-called 'meme,' has, through the June 2022 local elections, been fully integrated into each city's pledges and policies.

City Characters of Daejeon, Ulsan, Gwangju, and Cheongju Embark on the 'Making a Fun City Project'

Mayors' 'Words, Words, Words'... "We will shed the dishonor of being No-Jam Cities"

The current mayors' efforts toward Sweet Fun Cities began even before the June 2022 local elections. Seemingly aware of the controversy, Mayor Lee Jang-woo, during a press meeting at the city council in May 2022 as a candidate, said, "The image of a No-Jam City was created by Daejeon itself," adding, "We will shed the dishonor of being a No-Jam City and make Daejeon a heart-throbbing city 24/7, 365 days a year, a city where people and money gather." In the same month, Mayor Kim Doo-gyeom, also a candidate, stated, "I will definitely make the most fun city, not just a city for making money, but a 'Sweet Fun City.'"

Mayor Kang Ki-jung, months before the 2021 election, pledged to attract a 22nd-century Disneyland to Gwangju, emphasizing, "We will make a city that is not No-Jam but the hometown of Sweet Fun, a city where dreams can be realized without leaving to find them." Kang made 'a Sweet Fun City where imagination becomes reality' a key campaign promise, which has become the most important part of current policies. Mayor Lee Beom-seok also pledged during his candidacy, "I will make Cheongju a Sweet Fun City where any citizen can enjoy tourism, culture, arts, and sports in daily life," presenting related pledges.

Since taking office, they have started driving efforts to create fun points throughout their cities. Over the past two years, the four cities have issued anywhere from 20 to over 300 press releases using 'Sweet Fun' as a keyword. The phrase 'Sweet Fun City OO (city name)' or 'Sweet Fun OO' has become a staple expression in press releases. They used this term in announcing festivals, contests, lectures, facility openings, and various budget acquisitions.

Mayors who embarked on making Sweet Fun Cities have also exchanged conversations with other cities embroiled in No-Jam controversies. Mayor Kim Doo-gyeom shared an anecdote at last October's Culture Day event about how he and Mayor Lee Jang-woo once called each other the 'most boring city.'

"Daejeon was the most boring city, followed by Ulsan... This time, about 2 million people came to Daejeon's event. So Daejeon escaped last place, and now Ulsan is last. That made me quite upset. From now on, we will turn No-Jam Cities into Sweet Fun Cities."

Looking into the pledges... Focus on landmark creation and facility expansion

All four mayors passionately expressed their determination to create Sweet Fun Cities since their candidacies, and this was reflected in their pledges. Asia Economy reviewed the cultural, sports, and tourism-related Sweet Fun City pledges made by the four mayors in June 2022. Since the current mayors have about two years left in their terms, judgments on the execution of these pledges should be made later.

The Sweet Fun City pledges mainly focus on ▲creating large-scale tourist attractions ▲expanding facilities accessible to local citizens ▲hosting festivals.

First, the four cities aimed to build landmarks representing their city images to attract outsiders by creating large-scale tourist attractions. Ulsan's plan to build a world-class performance hall over the Taehwa River and establish a K-pop academy is a representative example. Ulsan also showed intentions to establish tourism special zones such as the Yeongnam Alps mountain tourism zone and Ilsan Beach marine tourism zone. Cheongju's pledges included creating a well-being healing theme park and a rural experiential life farm land.

More than half of the Sweet Fun City-related policies were pledges to build facilities for citizens.

The four mayors promised to establish cultural facilities such as the 2nd Daejeon Literature Museum and 2nd Municipal Art Museum (Daejeon), National Industrial Technology Museum (Ulsan), Asia Culture and Arts Village and specialized art theater (Gwangju), and Cheongju Museum and Modern and Contemporary Cultural Arts Exhibition Hall (Cheongju). They also pledged to secure sports facilities such as the Southwest Comprehensive Sports Town, amateur baseball stadium, and soccer stadium (Daejeon), public golf courses and indoor play sports facilities (Ulsan), and multipurpose indoor gymnasium (Cheongju). Gwangju also committed to supporting Gwangju FC, active in the K-League, as a citizen club.

Additionally, Daejeon plans to host the 'Midnight Festival' aiming to attract 5 million tourists, while Gwangju plans to promote an international performing arts festival and Gwangju Festa (tentative name during the pledge, now renamed 'G-Festa Gwangju').

Visitors are listening to the guide's explanation at the Oesol Memorial Hall, built next to the birthplace in Jung-gu, Ulsan, to honor the Korean language scholar Choi Hyun-bae. Photo by Heo Young-han

Most of these pledges inevitably require large-scale budget investments. Based on the announced pledges related to culture, sports, and tourism for creating Sweet Fun Cities, the estimated total budget combining national funds, city funds, and private investments is approximately KRW 1.39 trillion for Daejeon, KRW 520 billion for Ulsan, KRW 610 billion for Gwangju, and KRW 980 billion for Cheongju. The four cities are undertaking large-scale projects investing over KRW 3 trillion to secure cultural and tourism resources and create fun elements.

Local experts emphasize that the direction set by local government heads inevitably has a significant impact on building fun elements in cities. When policies are formulated, budgets are allocated, and the decision on where to support with limited funds ultimately lies with the local government heads. According to them, budget distribution can vary greatly depending on policy direction, such as whether to build landmark buildings or focus on fostering local culture.

Even with landmarks, deficits and low visitor numbers persist... "Need to incorporate stories and content"

Criticism continues regarding the waste of taxpayers' money on establishing landmarks that require large budgets. There are countless places nationwide where tourist complexes, museums, and other landmarks built with hundreds of billions of won remain empty even during peak seasons, earning the sharp criticism of being 'tax-eating hippos.' While such impressive appearances can capture external visitors' attention in the short term, they are not sustainable solutions.

According to the Local Finance 365 system, among 395 public facilities (excluding 3 with insufficient data) such as museums, experience centers, cultural facilities, and sports facilities built with over KRW 20 billion by metropolitan governments and over KRW 10 billion by local governments, more than 55% had fewer than 100,000 annual users in 2022. The total deficit based on operating costs and revenues of all public facilities exceeded KRW 700 billion.

Last month, a reporter visited the Oesol Choi Hyun-bae Exhibition Hall in Ulsan. It took only 10 minutes to tour the entire exhibition hall. The staff, surprised by the visit of an outsider after a long time, repeatedly asked where the reporter was from and explained that daily visitors number about 30. The video room was usually turned off but was turned on upon the reporter's request. Over KRW 5 billion was invested in this exhibition hall when it opened in 2010.

Andong City in Gyeongbuk, which invested over KRW 50 billion to build Confucianism Land in 2013, is often cited as a target of criticism. In 2022, Confucianism Land had fewer than 50,000 visitors and recorded a KRW 1.2 billion deficit. Although visitor numbers rose to about 20,000 per month this year, it is expected to be difficult to stop the annual deficit streak of KRW 1 billion from 2019 to 2022.

Lee Hoon, director of Hanyang University Tourism Research Institute (professor of tourism), explained, "These pledges reflect the view that if you build buildings and facilities, people will (passively) play there." He added, "But real fun is about enabling people to play voluntarily." While he understands the attempts to attract outsiders with such landmarks in each region, he emphasized, "They must be created incorporating the region's stories and content."

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