Gyeongbuk 'Cultural City' Opens New Local Era... Gyeongbuk Province Hosts Joint Forum Linking Cities and Counties

Pohang City Collaboration Model 'Marine Grand Marionette' Promotion

On the 19th, Gyeongbuk Province will hold the '2023 Gyeongbuk Cultural City Forum' at the Chilgok-gun Education and Culture Center.

About 190 people will attend the forum, including the Deputy Governor for Economic Affairs, the Chilgok-gun County Governor, the Deputy Mayors of Gyeongju and Andong, public officials related to cultural cities from various cities and counties, cultural foundation officials, and civic activists.

Now in its second year, the forum is jointly hosted by Gyeongbuk Province and Pohang City and Chilgok-gun, which have been designated as legal cultural cities, as well as Andong City and Gyeongju City, which are preparing for the 5th round of legal cultural city designation, to strengthen cooperation and solidarity centered on the metropolitan area.

In line with the government's regional cultural policy direction, the forum will be conducted through presentations of city-specific initiatives, roundtable discussions, and keynote lectures aimed at enhancing understanding of cultural cities, to promote the creation of sustainable cultural cities by harnessing the unique culture of Gyeongbuk and mobilizing citizen power.

Pohang City will present a case study on sustainable cultural city strategies based on the 'Marine Grand Marionette'; Chilgok-gun will share a case on the 15-minute cultural living zone created by the local cultural ecosystem; Gyeongju City will present a case on expanding opportunities for citizens to enjoy culture through cultural heritage; and Andong City will present a case on revitalizing the urban cultural brand through governance.

Gyeongbuk Province plans to foster and develop the Marine Grand Marionette project, presented by Pohang City as a model project for creating a sustainable cultural city that attracts people and revitalizes the local community by converging and integrating local resources and culture, in collaboration with cities and counties.

The legal cultural city creation project, a public contest project by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, is a regional cultural policy continuing from the previous government to the current one, aimed at achieving balanced cultural development and cultural autonomy by creating sustainable cultural cities based on distinctive local cultures.

From 2019 to the present, 24 local governments have been designated as legal cultural cities through four rounds.

For the 16 local governments selected as the 5th preliminary cultural cities, an evaluation of the preliminary cultural city projects will be conducted to designate six additional local governments as legal cultural cities, with a total national subsidy of up to 7.5 billion KRW over five years planned.

In Gyeongbuk Province, Pohang and Chilgok have been designated as legal cultural cities and are currently implementing projects, while Andong and Gyeongju have been selected as 5th preliminary cultural cities and are preparing presentations and on-site evaluations for legal cultural city designation.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism divides the country into seven regions and plans to designate one local government per region as a 'Korea Cultural City,' providing up to 10 billion KRW in national subsidies over three years from 2025 to 2027.

Deputy Governor for Economic Affairs Lee Dal-hee stated, "The power of culture is a panacea for promoting regional development and vitality," and urged, "Please take pride and work to create a new local era through the cultural power that Gyeongbuk possesses."

Gyeongbuk Provincial Government Office.

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