Gokseong Dorimsa Valley, One Step Closer to the Residents' Embrace

Dorimsa Valley Illegal Facility Removal for a Pleasant River Environment Creation

Dorimsa Valley, Gokseong-gun. (Photo by Gokseong-gun)

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seon-sik] Gokseong-gun, Jeollanam-do (Governor Yoo Geun-gi) announced on the 1st that it has completed the removal of illegal facilities that had been occupying the Dorimsa Valley without permission.

Dorimsa Valley is a representative tourist destination in Gokseong-gun, attracting many summer vacationers. However, surrounding shops had installed structures such as platforms and tents for decades, illegally occupying the area and detracting from the valley's beauty. Both tourists and residents continuously filed complaints about the inconvenience caused in using the valley.

Gokseong-gun made efforts to resolve these complaints, but it was not easy to solve the issue entangled with the interests of nearby merchants. However, since the 7th local government administration, Gokseong-gun has taken a more proactive approach to solving the problem, believing it is important to return the valley to everyone.

The county met with merchants over two years to seek understanding and persuasion. Gokseong-gun's position was that even though the structures were illegal, the livelihoods of local merchants could not be ignored, so unilateral and coercive removal should not be pursued. The county’s considerate attitude toward both residents and merchants and efforts through dialogue eventually moved the merchants and led to a compromise.

First, Gokseong-gun decided to make Dorimsa Valley a more pleasant and beautiful place through an environmental improvement project. The plan is to help activate nearby shops by attracting more visitors to Dorimsa Valley. Accordingly, the merchants agreed to voluntarily remove the illegal facilities that had occupied the valley. Approximately 80 platforms, 2 structures, and 1 bungalow illegally occupying the river area from three businesses around the valley were removed.

Gokseong-gun plans to make various efforts to revitalize the Dorimsa tourist site in the future. To ensure visitors can use the valley comfortably, deck roads and stairs will be installed around the valley in connection with the Dorimsa parking lot. Additionally, the valley will be restored to a cleaner state and returned to residents and tourists.

A county official said, “In addition to restoring a clean and pristine river by removing illegal river facilities, this will also have a significant effect on preventing flood damage. We hope many tourists will visit the clean Dorimsa Valley and have a healing time at the thousand-year-old Dorimsa Valley.”

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