Uljin Wangpicheon Cable Car Starts Operation for Stable Management

Uljin-gun, Gyeongbuk Province is doing its best to find ways to normalize the operation of the Wangpicheon Cable Car, which is currently suspended.

Uljin Wangpicheon Cable Car.

The Uljin Wangpicheon Cable Car has been operated under a consignment contract with Uljin Cable Car from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2025, for five years. However, since Uljin Cable Car failed to prepay the 300 million KRW rent for the fourth year by June 15, the county notified the termination of the operating rights as of June 30 and temporarily suspended operations.

Although the operator also failed to pay rent last year, the county allowed resumption of operations with a split payment method considering it was the first case of non-payment and the upcoming summer vacation peak season. However, since the same situation repeated after one year, the county judged that stable operation would be difficult and made a firm decision to temporarily suspend operations. In addition to the rent arrears, Uljin Cable Car was found to have ongoing internal management issues such as wage arrears and conflicts with tenant stores related to the deposit.

Accordingly, Uljin-gun notified the termination of the operating rights of Uljin Cable Car for the benefit of the county and its residents and is proceeding with administrative procedures for contract termination. Along with the contract termination process, various measures have been explored to ensure stable operation of the cable car, and plans are underway to change the current private consignment operation method in the future. The existing private consignment operation involved the operator prepaying rent annually and managing all operations including revenue.

However, going forward, to prevent poor management, only safety driving and service-related aspects will be entrusted to the operator. If the private consignment operation method is changed, all revenue generated by the cable car will belong to Uljin-gun, and the county will clearly assign responsibility for safety driving and service to the operator and pay only the related operating costs. When the revenue belongs to Uljin-gun, the county plans to operate in a way that maximally benefits the local economy, such as providing cable car ride discounts to users who have engaged in consumption activities within the county.

The county has completed preliminary administrative procedures such as obtaining the Uljin County Council’s approval for the change in private consignment operation method and conducting a cost estimation service for reselecting the entrusted company. It has also requested the necessary project budget in the 2nd supplementary budget. Once the budget is confirmed, the county plans to select an operating company through a bidding announcement for the private consignment operator, finalize the contract, secure driving and operating personnel, and complete preparations for reopening to resume normal operations.

County Governor Son Byung-bok said, “I deeply regret that tourists visiting our county during the summer peak season are experiencing inconvenience. However, if we overlook the non-payment issue again just because it is the peak season, normalizing cable car operations will become even more difficult,” and added, “Please understand that this is an unavoidable decision for permanent and stable operation.”

He also said, “We will devote all efforts to the prompt normalization of the Uljin Wangpicheon Cable Car and will do our best to select a sound company through thorough verification from the contract stage to prevent recurrence of similar cases and ensure normal operation.”

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