Seosan Mayor Lee Wan-seop: "Promoting Garorimman Tidal Flat for World Natural Heritage Listing"

“Doing Our Best for the Ecological Preservation of Garorimman,”
Says During Dialogue with Palbong-myeon Residents

Lee Wanseop, mayor of Seosan City, Chungnam, is closely communicating with the residents of Palbong-myeon through a dialogue at the Palbong-myeon Administrative Welfare Center on the 13th. Photo by Seosan City

Lee Wan-seop, the mayor of Seosan in Chungnam Province, announced on the 13th that he will steadily pursue the inscription of the Garorimman tidal flat, known as one of the world's top five tidal flats and a treasure trove of marine ecosystems, as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site.

Mayor Lee emphasized this point during the "New Year Dialogue with Citizens" held at 2 p.m. at the Palbong-myeon Administrative Welfare Center, attended by about 160 residents of Palbong-myeon.

During the dialogue, there was keen interest in questions from local residents regarding the progress of various projects related to Garorimman, including the preservation of its ecosystem, which is the only place on land where the spotted seal can be observed with the naked eye.

Mayor Lee stated that, regarding Garorimman, the city will steadily promote the establishment of the National Marine Ecological Park's tidal flat ecological trail, tidal flat vegetation restoration, and the inscription of the tidal flat as a World Natural Heritage site.

As part of the Garorimman National Marine Ecological Park project, the city is creating a tidal flat ecological trail, which will be an ecological landscape exploration path along the 140 km coastline of Garorimman.

Last September, 1 billion KRW in national funding was allocated for the creation of the tidal flat ecological trail. The city plans to complete the basic design of the trail by this year and aims to finish the project by 2028.

The Garorimman tidal flat vegetation restoration project involves creating habitats of halophytes such as Suaeda japonica and reeds, which are exemplary for carbon neutrality, as well as a marine deck trail, photo zones, and parking lots in the Garorimman area.

The city expects that, once completed, the project will create a beautiful and scenic landscape in connection with Palbongsan, a mountain known as a local landmark.

To preserve the outstanding biodiversity of Garorimman, which was designated as Korea's first marine life protection area, efforts are also underway to have the Garorimman tidal flat inscribed as a World Natural Heritage site.

Last year, the city submitted its opinion on the inscription of the tidal flat as a World Heritage site to the "Korean Tidal Flats World Heritage Inscription Task Force" and is focusing its administrative efforts on achieving the inscription by 2026, including dispatching personnel to the task force.

In addition, Palbong-myeon residents asked questions about various major issues such as the construction of a new city hall, the creation of a (tentatively named) Culture and Arts Town, and the operation of international cruise ships, to which Mayor Lee provided detailed explanations.

There was also time for residents to make suggestions and receive answers on various local issues, including the maintenance of the section of Local Road No. 634 from Illam-ri to Geumhak-ri, the progress of the Palbong-myeon National Sports Center, and the revitalization of Gudohang Port.

Mayor Lee Wan-seop said, "Today's dialogue with Palbong-myeon residents was filled with enthusiasm for communication through various suggestions and questions," and added, "We will do our utmost to ensure the smooth progress of related projects for the ecological preservation of the beautiful Garorimman."

Meanwhile, the second week of the Dialogue with Citizens will begin in Palbong-myeon on the 13th, followed by Haemi-myeon in the morning and Gobuk-myeon in the afternoon on the 14th, Seongyeon-myeon in the afternoon on the 15th, Jigok-myeon in the morning and Eumam-myeon in the afternoon on the 16th, and Unsan-myeon in the morning on the 17th.