Jeonnam Province's Green Light for Hosting the 'Korea Island Promotion Agency'

Ministry of the Interior and Safety to Hold Committee Meeting to Announce Call for Establishment Location

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] A green light has been turned on for the attraction of the ‘Korea Island Promotion Agency,’ which Jeonnam Province first proposed for comprehensive and specialized investigation, research, policy establishment, and promotion of islands.

According to Jeonnam Province on the 17th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety held the 1st Korea Island Promotion Agency Establishment Committee meeting the day before, deciding to select the establishment location through a public contest and determining the candidate site selection and evaluation criteria.

The regional contest is an issue that Jeonnam Province has been advocating for.

The application period is until the 8th of next month, and metropolitan local governments can apply with up to two candidate sites (cities, counties, or districts possessing islands).

Afterwards, based on selection criteria such as balanced development, site conditions, relevance and participation in island development policy projects, on-site inspections and evaluations will be conducted to finalize the establishment location, with an official launch scheduled for August.

The ‘Korea Island Promotion Agency,’ as a government-funded institution, is expected to have an economic ripple effect including a production inducement effect of 40.7 billion KRW and a value-added effect of 27.4 billion KRW over the next five years if attracted, drawing interest from many regions nationwide.

Since 2015, the province has continuously held meetings with the National Assembly, central government departments, and experts to raise awareness of the need for the establishment of the ‘Island Promotion Agency’ and conducted the ‘Research on Establishment and Attraction of Island Development Research Institute (2018?2019)’ to propose establishment plans.

Additionally, since 2016, Jeonnam has proposed the establishment of Island Day and successfully held the 1st Island Day commemorative event on August 8, 2019. It has also played a leading role in island policy by proactively promoting various island development policies such as the ‘Making Islands You Want to Visit Project.’

Along with this, it has formed an organic network with island-related specialized research institutions and private organizations such as the Korea Island Foundation, Korea Island Society, Island Research Institute, and Mokpo National University Island Culture Research Institute.

Jeonnam holds 2,165 islands, accounting for 65% of the nation’s islands.

Based on this justification, the province has strongly advocated for the establishment of the ‘Korea Island Promotion Agency’ in Jeonnam together with local members of the National Assembly.

Wi Gwanghwan, Director of the Marine Fisheries Bureau of Jeonnam Province, said, “Jeonnam, which has the most islands nationwide, is the optimal location for establishing the Island Promotion Agency as island research institutions and organizations are concentrated here, making it easy to build a foundation for island development policies. We will do our best to ensure that it is definitely attracted to Jeonnam, as we have been leading efforts for the establishment of the Island Promotion Agency.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.