Shinan-gun Officially Declares Hosting the 'Korea Island Promotion Agency,' Rewriting Island Policy History

Weakness of Having the Most Islands Turned into Success with the '1004 Islands' Brand Marketing

'Island Policy Advanced Local Government' Implementing Various Self-Discovered Island Policies

Scenic view of Shinan-gun Office (Photo by Shinan-gun)

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Seo Young-seo] Shinan-gun, Jeollanam-do officially declared on the 24th its participation in the bid to host the ‘Korea Island Promotion Agency,’ which is set to launch in August.

The location for the establishment of the ‘National Korea Island Promotion Agency’ will be decided through a local government competition organized by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

County Governor Park Woo-ryang stated in an official announcement, “We are applying to host the Korea Island Promotion Agency not because Shinan-gun has the most islands in South Korea, but because Shinan-gun is recognized by everyone as an ‘advanced island policy region’ that has rewritten the history of island policies alongside Presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in.”

Governor Park emphasized, “I personally proposed to the late President Roh Moo-hyun to abolish the ban on nighttime passenger ship operations, which was a tool of Japanese colonial rule, and realized nighttime passenger ship operations for the first time in 100 years. Not stopping there, since 2019, we have been pioneering the ‘1000-won passenger ship’ as a pilot project nationwide, a stepping stone policy toward a ‘fully public passenger ship system.’”

He recalled, “We were the first in the nation to enact the ‘Ordinance on Sharing Benefits of Renewable Energy,’ institutionally guaranteeing residents’ participation and benefit sharing,” and reminded of President Moon Jae-in’s repeated remarks to “do renewable energy development projects like Shinan-gun.”

In particular, he introduced, “President Moon Jae-in attended the ‘World’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm Investment Agreement Ceremony’ held on Imjado Island and highly praised it, saying that as the first co-prosperity job model, residents hold shares and receive profit distribution, which will become a lifelong ‘offshore wind pension’ for local residents.”

President Moon Jae-in is talking with Kim Young-rok, Governor of Jeollanam-do (second from right), and Park Woo-ryang, Mayor of Sinan County (right), after attending the '48 Trillion Won Investment Agreement Ceremony for the World's Largest Offshore Wind Power Complex' held at Imja Bridge in Sinan County on the 5th. (Photo by Sinan County)

He also stated, “When the Moon Jae-in administration promoted the ‘Korean New Deal’ policy, we proposed and are promoting the ‘Island Data Dam’ project, which digitalizes and utilizes island resources and assets,” evaluating it as “a digital New Deal project first proposed by a local government and a model for regional balanced New Deal projects.”

Furthermore, he said, “Even the weakness of having the most islands was successfully turned into brand marketing as the ‘Angel (1004) Islands,’” and reported that “Shinan-gun’s ‘Island Art Policy,’ which transforms islands from insignificant outskirts into a source of art, is attracting attention from world-renowned media such as CNN and Fox News.”

Governor Park Woo-ryang expressed hope, saying, “We expect the newly launched Korea Island Promotion Agency to serve as the definitive control tower for South Korea’s island policies,” and added, “Shinan-gun is an ‘advanced island policy local government’ that has executed various self-discovered island policies and accumulated their achievements.”

He added, “We have long been meticulously preparing not only the site for the Korea Island Promotion Agency but also various cooperative and related projects,” and pledged, “We will do our best to attract the Korea Island Promotion Agency to Shinan-gun.”

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