[One Day Ten Thousand Steps] New Year Health with ‘Walking’... Local Governments' Challenge Flood

In celebration of the ‘Year of the Blue Dragon’ in 2024, local governments across the country have launched walking initiatives. Residents can not only improve their health through regular walking but also receive various rewards.

Seodaemun-gu in Seoul is conducting the ‘New Year 150,000 Steps Walking Challenge’ until the 28th. Participation is possible through the mobile walking application ‘WalkOn.’ Residents can have up to 10,000 steps per day counted anywhere within Seodaemun-gu. Those who achieve a total of 150,000 steps during the period will receive a neck warmer or a blanket.

Seodaemun-gu 'New Year 150,000 Steps Walking Challenge' Poster (Photo by Seodaemun-gu Office)

Gangneung-si in Gangwon Province is operating the ‘2024 Gangneung Yeojido 1 Million Steps Grand March Challenge’ to welcome the new year. As part of the walking lifestyle initiative, it was planned to encourage Gangneung citizens to participate in healthy living practices in their daily lives and to enhance physical activity. The challenge, which started on the 1st, will run until June 30.

Gangneung-si plans to award 100 participants who reach 1 million steps with walking gear packages worth approximately 30,000 KRW through a lottery. Any Gangneung citizen can participate by joining the ‘Gangneung Yeojido’ community on WalkOn. Gangneung-si operates the walking community Gangneung Yeojido to promote citizen participation in walking and to foster a walking lifestyle in daily life, with 10,361 members as of last year.

Gwangyang-si in Jeollanam-do has launched the ‘January Stronger Forward Healthy Walking Challenge’ to cultivate a healthy walking culture. This walking challenge, running through the 31st via WalkOn, accumulates 1 mileage point per step, with a maximum of 8,000 mileage points per day. If participants walk 240,000 steps during the challenge period, they accumulate 240,000 mileage points and become eligible to enter a draw for a 10,000 KRW mobile cultural gift certificate.

Seogwipo-si in Jeju is operating the ‘Tamna Walking Challenge’ from January to promote walking in daily life. This initiative aims to improve Seogwipo-si’s walking practice rate, which ranked low nationwide in the Community Health Survey. The walking practice rate refers to the percentage of people who walk at least 10 minutes per session, totaling 30 minutes or more per day, at least five days a week during the past week.

Citizens participating in the walking challenge who achieve the target of 210,000 steps (7,000 steps per day) will receive 10,000 KRW worth of points monthly on the Jeju local currency ‘Tamna Jeon’ card. Those who meet the goal for more than 10 months will receive an additional 30,000 KRW, totaling 150,000 KRW in benefits annually. Special commemorative gifts (badges, keychains, etc.) will also be given to those who succeed for more than three months.

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