"Come to the Beach" 26 Beaches in Gyeongnam Officially Open on July 1

Operation until August 20 after phased opening

Festival opening and special beach prepared

Twenty-six beaches in Gyeongnam Province will open sequentially starting July 1.

According to Gyeongnam Province on the 29th, 16 beaches including Changwon Gwangam Beach and Geoje Hakdong Beach will officially open first on that day.

On the 7th of the same month, five beaches including Sacheon Namildae and Namhae Sangju Eunmorae will welcome visitors, followed by three beaches including Tongyeong Surik Beach on the 8th.

Each beach is scheduled to operate until August 20.

Sangju Eunmorae Beach, Namhae, Gyeongnam.
Photo by Gyeongnam Provincial Government

Since this is the first beach opening after the transition to the ‘endemic’ phase, where infectious diseases periodically occur in specific regions following the large-scale COVID-19 outbreak, Gyeongnam Province plans to proceed with festivals held on the beaches as usual.

Events such as the Sacheon Namildae Beach Trot Song Festival, Namhae Sangju Eunmorae Beach County Wrestling Competition, Changwon Gwangam Beach Air Pool and Air Slide programs, beach busking, and the Starlight Film Festival will be held.

Special themed beaches unique to Gyeongnam will also be operated.

Geoje Myeongsa Beach will reopen as the nation’s first pet-friendly beach called ‘Daengsuyokjang,’ equipped with a pet-only shower and snack exchange station.

At five beaches across Namhae, separate dog entry zones will also be operated.

A lifebuoy tube is provided at Myeongsa Beach in Geoje, Gyeongnam.
[Photo by Gyeongnam Provincial Government]

Gyeongnam Province will activate a safety management control room along with the opening of the beaches.

The Fisheries Development Division will lead, with city and county control rooms maintaining a full-time work system and establishing cooperation with related agencies such as fire stations and the coast guard.

Safety management will comprehensively cover monitoring visitor status, safety accident situations, beach environment management, and handling complaints and improvement measures.

A total of 210 safety personnel will be deployed at the beaches, and 1,426 water safety equipment facilities including jet skis, lifeboats, life jackets, life tubes, watchtowers, and automatic braking devices will be installed.

To ease concerns of visitors caused by inaccurate information related to the discharge of contaminated water from Fukushima, radiation inspections have been completed at four beaches in the province before opening.

Geoje Hakdong Black Pearl Pebble Beach and Namhae Sangju Eunmorae Beach, included among 20 representative beaches nationwide, were inspected under the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, while Changwon Gwangam Beach and Sacheon Namildae Beach were inspected independently by Gyeongnam Province.

The inspections confirmed that Geoje Hakdong, Changwon Gwangam, and Sacheon Namildae beaches are safe with no abnormalities, while the results for Namhae Sangju Eunmorae Beach are pending.

Once the full-scale discharge of contaminated water begins, the province plans to conduct weekly inspections of the two beaches under the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries’ jurisdiction and disclose the results through the province and city/county websites.

Kim Je-hong, Director of the Marine and Fisheries Bureau, said, “We will do our best to manage the beaches so that visitors to the beautiful seas of Gyeongnam can enjoy swimming with peace of mind,” adding, “We hope everyone enjoys their leisure time safely by wearing life jackets when using the beaches and refraining from risky behaviors such as swimming under the influence of alcohol.”

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