Dongducheon City Continues Efforts to Attract International Skating Rink

Bird's-eye view of Dongducheon City International Skating Rink.

On the 19th, Dongducheon City in Gyeonggi Province announced its plan to continuously promote activities and efforts to attract the international skating rink to Dongducheon.

The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee announced last December that, following the inscription of the Joseon Royal Tombs as a World Cultural Heritage site, the Taereung International Skating Rink would be demolished, and a public contest would be held to build a new international skating rink with a national budget of 200 billion KRW.

Accordingly, the Sports Committee conducted a public contest for the construction of the international skating rink in February this year, and Dongducheon City, recognized as a city of ice sports, also participated. Upon applying for the contest, the city has been making all-out efforts to attract the international skating rink together with the Sports Committee, the Citizen Countermeasure Committee for Regional Development, social organizations, members of the National Assembly, provincial councilors, and city councilors.

Although the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee held a board meeting on August 28 and decided to postpone the public contest for the replacement site of the Taereung International Skating Rink, Dongducheon City plans to continue its efforts to attract the facility.

Dongducheon City believes it has a significantly stronger advantage compared to six other local governments, considering its ice sports infrastructure, excellent transportation accessibility, optimal site, pristine natural environment, and a blueprint linked to the expansion development project of Soyosan Mountain.

Moreover, all 90,000 citizens fervently wish for the international skating rink to be located in Dongducheon, and citizens and various organizations have voluntarily carried out diverse activities, including promotional campaigns.

Mayor Park Hyung-deok of Dongducheon said, “We regret the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee’s decision to postpone the public contest for the replacement site of the international skating rink, but since the contest has not been canceled but only temporarily postponed, we will firmly push forward with attracting the international skating rink to Dongducheon,” emphasizing, “Among the local governments that applied, Dongducheon is the most suitable for construction conditions.”