"Now We Will Ease Regulations Together" Six Cities and Counties Including Hanam Launch Waterfront Tourism Council

Hanam City (Mayor Lee Hyunjae) attended the 1st regular meeting of the "Northeastern Gyeonggi Eco-Friendly Waterfront Tourism Development Win-Win Council" (hereinafter referred to as the Council), held on the 12th at the Gyeonggi Viewer Media Center in Dasan-dong, Namyangju City. At the meeting, the city jointly declared the official launch of the Council and agreed to collaborate on promoting eco-friendly waterfront tourism and jointly addressing overlapping regulations.

Hanam City attended the 1st regular meeting of the "Northeastern Gyeonggi Eco-Friendly Waterfront Tourism Development Win-Win Council," held on the 12th at the Gyeonggi Viewer Media Center located in Dasan-dong, Namyangju City. The city jointly declared the official launch and agreed to collaborate on promoting eco-friendly waterfront tourism and jointly addressing overlapping regulations. Photo by Hanam City

This Council was established with the participation of six cities and counties in northeastern Gyeonggi Province, including Hanam, Namyangju, Gwangju, Guri, Yangpyeong, and Gapyeong. The purpose is to share waterfront tourism resources around the Paldang Lake (Dam) and the Bukhan River area, to create eco-friendly tourism hubs, to form an integrated tourism zone, to resolve overlapping regulations, and to build a cooperative system for sustainable joint development.

The launch ceremony was attended by Lee Hyunjae, Mayor of Hanam; Joo Gwangdeok, Mayor of Namyangju; Bang Sehwan, Mayor of Gwangju; Kim Wankyeom, Director of Administrative Support at Guri City; Jeon Jinseon, Governor of Yangpyeong County; and Seo Taewon, Governor of Gapyeong County, along with officials from the six cities and counties. The participants signed a joint declaration and held a commemorative ceremony to reaffirm their commitment to regional cooperation.

During the regular meeting, each local government shared current issues related to waterfront areas and engaged in in-depth discussions on ways to cooperate for regulatory improvement and tourism revitalization.

At the meeting, Hanam City proposed a "joint request for regulatory relaxation," explaining that the K-Star World development project currently underway faces difficulties due to various overlapping regulations, as the project site is located along the Han River and is subject to regulations similar to those applied to waterfront zones.

This measure follows Hanam City's successful proposal last year, which led to a revision of guidelines allowing the lifting of development restrictions in areas graded 1 and 2 for environmental purposes if certain conditions are met. Now, the city is taking joint action with the other five cities and counties to address unreasonable regulations related to waterfront zones.

Hanam City reiterated its position that reasonable improvements to the overlapping regulations, which have been endured for over 50 years to protect the metropolitan area's water source, are absolutely necessary, taking the launch of this Council as an opportunity to emphasize this need once again.

The 'K-Star World' development project being pursued by Hanam City is a large-scale urban development initiative aimed at transforming a 1.7 million square meter site in Misadong into a global cultural content production hub by clustering K-pop concert venues, world-class film studios, academies, hotels, and other cultural content facilities.

The city aims to create about 30,000 jobs and attract 30 million tourists annually. Hanam City believes that accelerating consultations with relevant ministries, including the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, is crucial to ensure the smooth progress of the project.

Mayor Lee Hyunjae of Hanam stated, "The waterfront areas of northeastern Gyeonggi have lost development opportunities for a long time due to overlapping regulations imposed under the pretext of environmental protection." He added, "Now is the time for the six cities and counties to unite and achieve tangible results in regulatory improvement together."

He further emphasized, "I hope this meeting will not end as a mere launch, but will become the starting point for driving policy changes through continued consultations with the government."