Mayor Donghwan Lee: "We Will Make the Coffee Industry a Core Pillar of Jobs, Tourism, and Culture"

'2025 Goyang Coffee City Strategy Forum' Held
Over 100 Coffee Industry Experts and Business Representatives Attend
Discussion on Strategies to Strengthen the Competitiveness of Goyang's Coffee Industry

Goyang Special City in Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Donghwan Lee) announced on June 5 that it held the "2025 Goyang Coffee City Strategy Forum" on June 4 at Kintex Exhibition Hall 2 to strengthen the competitiveness of Goyang City's coffee industry.

Donghwan Lee, mayor of Goyang Special City, is delivering a greeting at the "2025 Goyang Coffee City Strategy Forum" held on the 4th at Kintex Exhibition Hall 2 to strengthen the competitiveness of Goyang City's coffee industry. Provided by Goyang Special City

The forum, hosted by Goyang City and organized by Goyang Research Institute, was attended by more than 100 people, including Mayor Donghwan Lee, coffee industry experts, representatives from related businesses, and university officials.

Under the theme "Goyang: The Future of Urban Branding Through the Coffee Industry," the forum was organized to discuss the importance of strategically fostering the coffee industry in Goyang City and to establish a collaborative network between local government, industry, and academia.

The keynote presentations were delivered by Jeongjae Jang, Senior Research Fellow at Busan Research Institute, and Jiho An, Head of the Free Economic Zone Center at Goyang Research Institute. They presented on the current status of coffee cities in Korea and abroad, as well as differentiated strategic development plans for Goyang City's coffee industry.

Jeongjae Jang gave a presentation titled "Coffee: A New Pathway for Busan's Economy," discussing the case study and challenges of fostering the coffee industry in Busan. Jiho An presented on "Why the Coffee Industry for Goyang City?" outlining the development direction for Goyang's coffee sector.

In the subsequent panel discussion, Professor Gwanggeun Lee (Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, Dongguk University) served as moderator. Panelists included Hyeongchan Kim (CEO, Micro Coffee), Horim Hwang (Director of Education, Coffee Science), Sanguk Lee (Head of Planning and Management, Korea-China-Latin America Association), and Myeon Kim (Research Fellow, Korea Culture & Tourism Institute). They discussed strategies for the specialized development of Goyang's coffee industry, ways to create brand value as a leading coffee city, and measures to enhance competitiveness.

The second part of the forum featured a "Coffee Industry Networking" session with local coffee industry workers and business representatives. Participants shared their experiences, discussed ways to strengthen partnerships, and agreed on the need to establish a cooperative system to vitalize the coffee industry.

Mayor Donghwan Lee stated, "We will place the coffee industry at the center of entrepreneurship, job creation, tourism, and culture, and develop Goyang City into a hub for coffee bean distribution in the metropolitan area as well as a city with its own unique coffee culture."

Goyang Special City plans to actively incorporate the opinions and action plans derived from this forum into future policies for fostering the coffee industry.