Korea Island Promotion Agency Holds 'Visiting Island Field Forum' in Boryeong, Chungnam

Expanding Communication Scope and Gathering Opinions for 'Policy Reflection'

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] The Korea Island Promotion Agency (Director Oh Dongho) announced on the 10th that it held the ‘3rd On-site Forum Visiting Islands’ at Wonsando, Boryeong, Chungnam, following Jeonnam.

This is the first time the Korea Island Promotion Agency has held an on-site forum outside Jeonnam (Mokpo Samhakdo), where it is located, in other metropolitan cities and provinces.

The Korea Island Promotion Agency, marking its second year since its launch, is interpreted as gradually expanding communication with island residents and reflecting various opinions in policies.

On that day, the Korea Island Promotion Agency first visited Boryeong Mud Theme Park to inspect the site of the 2022 Boryeong Mud Marine Expo and toured the Boryeong Undersea Tunnel, which opened in December last year. Afterwards, it held the ‘On-site Forum Visiting Islands’ at Wonsando.

Due to the spread of COVID-19, only a minimum number of people attended the on-site forum, including officials from the National Maritime Cultural Heritage Research Institute, Chungnam Province, Boryeong City, and Wonsando residents.

Residents voiced various opinions such as problems caused by the suspension of nearby passenger ships due to the development of undersea tunnels on major islands, resolution of marine litter, and urging related agencies to pay attention to marginalized island residents.

The Korea Island Promotion Agency plans to continue discussions to share the opinions gathered from the on-site forum with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and help reflect them in policies.

Earlier, on the 4th, the Korea Island Promotion Agency held the ‘2nd On-site Forum Visiting Islands’ at Byeongpungdo, Jukdo, and Soakdo in Sinan, Jeungdo.

The on-site forum was prepared to discover policies and promotion projects by communicating on-site with island residents, island field activists, and island experts, and to establish communication and cooperation channels with local government island policy departments.

Oh Dongho, Director of the Korea Island Promotion Agency, said, “This forum held at Wonsando is meaningful as it was held together with the National Maritime Cultural Heritage Research Institute, which is responsible for excavating and preserving underwater relics,” adding, “We will strive to develop policies by discussing the valuable opinions given by island residents that day with the policy research team, promotion project team, and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.”

Meanwhile, the Korea Island Promotion Agency, launched on October 8 last year, is an institution that fosters islands nationwide, conducts research and surveys on policy development, conservation, and management, and is a national research institute under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety responsible for island policies dispersed across government ministries.

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