Gangwon-do Pyeongchang and Inje-gun Selected for 'Local Branding Activation Project'

Creating Regions People Want to Visit and Settle In
13 Billion KRW in National Funding Allocated

Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province (Governor Kim Jin-tae) announced on the 18th that two regions in Gangwon-do, Pyeongchang-gun (County Governor Shim Jae-guk) and Inje-gun (County Governor Choi Sang-gi), were selected in the ‘2025 Local Branding Activation Project by Living Area Unit’ announced by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on the 16th.

The exterior of the Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province Office building. Photo by Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province Office

The ‘Local Branding Activation Project by Living Area Unit’ is a strategic project that utilizes unique local resources within a living area unit of 15 minutes to create differentiated characteristics, making the area a place where people want to visit and settle.

The project is divided into two types: planning design and specialized infrastructure, to effectively enhance local characteristics according to regional conditions. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety started the nationwide public announcement for local governments in February and, after two rounds of evaluation, finally selected 18 regions.

In Gangwon-do, Pyeongchang-gun was selected for the planning design type and will receive a special grant of 300 million KRW, while Inje-gun was selected for the specialized infrastructure type and will receive a special grant of 1 billion KRW.

Pyeongchang-gun plans to develop an ‘Outdoor Village’ concept in the Mitan-myeon area as a base village for road trips and trekking, while Inje-gun plans to create a vegan village experience base space centered around ‘Kkotpulso’ in the Nam-myeon Sinwol-ri area.

Including this achievement, since 2023, five cities and counties in Gangwon-do?Chuncheon, Taebaek, Sokcho, Inje, and Jeongseon?have been steadily selected in public contests, supporting the preservation of regional individuality and the establishment of differentiated growth engines.

Kim Man-ho, Director of the Gangwon-do Economic Bureau, stated, “Since Gangwon-do has many regions with attractive unique resources, we will continue to actively support cities and counties to strategically challenge public contests. We will do our best to establish a local branding foundation so that the region can develop into a place where people want to stay and live, based on its differentiated identity.”