Taking 인증샷 While Walking the Korea Dullegil
"Hope It Becomes an Opportunity to Discover the Joy of Walking Travel"
The father and son challenger Lee Seong-hyeong, who participated in Kakao's campaign 'A Tour Around Korea,' are taking a commemorative photo. Photo by Kakao
"Usually, it is difficult to spend even an hour with my daughter, but during this long journey, we are spending a lot of time together and having conversations we normally couldn't."
Kakao's campaign 'A Lap Around Korea' challenge has passed the halfway mark and is progressing successfully. Lee Seong-hyung, a participant in his 30s, joined the campaign with his daughter, walking certain sections together and taking certification photos along the way. He shared his thoughts, saying, "Thanks to Kakao, I am creating precious memories that will decorate a page of my life."
According to Kakao on the 8th, this campaign is being conducted under the previously announced group-wide win-win business slogan, 'Closer, Kakao.' The A Lap Around Korea challenge started with the goal of promoting the joy of walking travel and contributing to the local economy and domestic tourism industry.
The A Lap Around Korea challenge is a campaign where participants walk and certify certain sections of Korea’s longest trail course, the Korea Dullegil, which spans up to 4,500 km, from the 1st of last month until the 30th of this month. The Korea Dullegil is a super-long-distance walking trail created around the outskirts of Korea by related ministries such as the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization, with the goal of "rediscovering Korea while walking together." Starting with the East Sea Haeparang Trail opened in 2016, it includes the South Sea Nampalrang Trail, the West Sea Seohaerang Trail, and the DMZ Peace Trail opened in September. Within just over a month, five participants have completed over 500 km, and as of the previous day, the challenge is ongoing without any injuries or dropouts.
Kakao divided the Korea Dullegil into a total of nine sections and selected five participants per section, totaling 45 people. Each participant must walk 500 km within their assigned section during the campaign period. They can walk any distance at any time they wish and certify their progress.
Although the challenges are conducted individually, participants communicate frequently via KakaoTalk. They certify their walks and share information in open chat rooms gathered by groups. These online activity logs are essentially KakaoTalk open chat rooms. Thanks to this, participants living in different regions share their challenge status and encourage each other to complete the course despite their busy daily lives.
Travel YouTuber Kim Young-soo, a participant, said, "There is a sense of camaraderie in walking the same path as my group members," adding, "Whenever certification photos are posted, I cheer for my group members and feel more motivated to complete the challenge."
Kakao encourages walking through weekly missions to help participants complete the challenge. Upon completing missions, various prizes such as chicken and hamburgers are awarded to satisfy the hunger from walking. So far, missions have been conducted on themes like 'Determination and Aspirations,' 'Scenery Impressions,' 'Nature Photos,' and 'Walking Outfits.' Recently, through the mission 'Introduce the Best Restaurant Visited While Walking,' participants have certified restaurants they visited around the Dullegil over the past month and recommended eateries to each other.
Before the challenge began, Kakao released profiles including participants' nicknames, ages, and completion goals, as well as course completion statuses on the official page's 'Challenge Status.'
Additionally, to support participants' completion and allow everyone to enjoy the Korea Dullegil together, Kakao created a cheer button and comment feature. As of the previous day, the accumulated number of cheers reached 167,000, and there were about 1,800 cheer comments.
An event to raise awareness of the Korea Dullegil is also underway. The event, 'Find the Korea Dullegil That Suits Me,' designed to make the Korea Dullegil a travel destination everyone can enjoy, uses a preference test?a new cultural play trend?to recommend one of the 45 representative courses. Users who complete the prepared questions can check their recommended course and detailed information. They can also collect cards depicting course scenery as digital cards in their KakaoTalk Wallet. Issued digital cards have exceeded 40,000.
A Kakao representative said, "We will support participants in various ways so they can complete the challenge healthily without injury," adding, "We hope the Korea Dullegil will be an opportunity for domestic and international travelers to discover the beauty of our country and the joy of walking travel together."
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