Sejong Mayor Transition Committee Promotes Creation of Hangeul Culture Complex as a Hub for Korean Wave Culture

[Asia Economy (Sejong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Sejong Mayor Transition Committee has announced plans to create a Hangeul Culture Complex. This plan is part of the "Construction of the Hangeul Cultural Capital," a pledge made by Mayor-elect Choi Min-ho during the June 1 local elections, aiming to establish a hub for Korean Wave culture in the region by developing the Hangeul Culture Complex.

According to the Hangeul Cultural Capital Task Force (TF) of the Sejong Mayor Transition Committee on the 1st, the Hangeul Culture Complex will be developed as a key facility of the Hangeul Cultural Capital, concentrating cultural spaces such as Hangeul education, traditional culture experience facilities including Korean Wave, Hanbok, and Korean cuisine, as well as an artist creative village and settlement infrastructure.

The facility is planned to be built on a 140,000㎡ site and will include educational and research facilities, creative facilities, distribution facilities, experience facilities, performance grounds, and lodging facilities.

Among these, the educational and research facilities will be used as the "Hangeul Military Academy" to train Korean language teachers who will work overseas, and the "Foreigners' Education and Culture Center," a cultural exchange and research facility for overseas Koreans.

Additionally, the creative facilities will include an "Artist Creative Village" where cultural artists can reside and engage in creative activities, and a "Citizen Creative Studio" where citizens can freely participate in creative activities.

The TF is also considering including in the design the "Hangeul Culture Experience Hall," "Hangeul Culture Exhibition Hall," and "Han Culture Plaza" to enable experiences of Korean Wave and Korean culture within the Hangeul Culture Complex.

In particular, there are plans to establish a "VIP Guesthouse" for foreign dignitaries to stay in the area, a high-end "Hanok Hotel," and "Korean Wave Restaurants" within the Hangeul Culture Complex.

The TF also proposed strengthening the region’s operational capacity for the Hangeul cultural system alongside the physical development of the Hangeul Culture Complex.

Ryu Je-hwa, spokesperson for the Transition Committee, said, "Operational capacity refers to the region's own ability to run Korean (Hangeul) education programs, exhibitions and experience programs related to Korean Wave and tradition, international exchanges, conferences, and international events." He added, "Before the construction of the Hangeul Culture Complex, the TF plans to actively utilize existing related organizations such as the Lifelong Education Promotion Institute and the Cultural Foundation, and after completion, to establish a separate corporation to enhance the region’s operational capacity for the Hangeul cultural system."

He continued, "We are currently exploring ways to specify more detailed directions and implementation plans through research projects," and added, "Especially since the Hangeul Culture Complex is a large-scale project requiring a budget exceeding 300 billion KRW, we will consider reflecting it in government policy projects and having the government directly promote it."

Meanwhile, Mayor-elect Choi Min-ho pledged during the last local election, "Sejong City was named after King Sejong," and emphasized, "Our city has the responsibility to widely promote 'Hangeul,' the great gift of King Sejong," as the rationale for the construction of the Hangeul Cultural Capital.

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