‘Making Rural Areas More Livable!’ … Pohang City, Improving Living Conditions and Cultivating Talented Workforce

Pohang City is rapidly implementing various support policies to transform rural areas into more livable places where people gather.

Groundbreaking ceremony for the Basic Living Base Development Project in Gibuk-myeon held in 2022.

Since 2017, the city has invested a total budget of 59 billion KRW to promote general rural development projects within the region, such as the Rural Hub Revitalization Project and the Basic Living Base Creation Project.

These projects aim to build cultural and welfare infrastructure for residents living in rural areas, support the activation of resident communities, and promote mutually beneficial development with surrounding villages. Currently, the projects in three districts?Cheongha-myeon, Jukjang-myeon, and Janggi-myeon?have been completed, while construction has begun in Heunghae-eup, Singwang-myeon, and Gibuk-myeon, with full-scale implementation underway.

Additionally, through the Rural Space Maintenance Project contest, Ocheon-eup World District was selected in 2022, and Janggi-myeon Bangsan District was selected in 2023. From 2023, a total project cost of 6.8 billion KRW will be invested over five years to provide residents with a pleasant rural environment.

This project involves demolishing livestock barns and pigsties in rural villages and creating welfare and cultural spaces for residents, as well as rural education spaces, thereby regenerating rural spaces and improving the living environment in rural areas.

Along with building such infrastructure, the city is also leading efforts to cultivate excellent agricultural management personnel to create rural areas where people gather.

To respond to the climate crisis, Pohang City has established a subtropical crops class and a smart agriculture class at the Pohang Agricultural College to nurture outstanding talents for future agriculture.

Moreover, the city provides information on desired areas for returning to farming and rural living, as well as agricultural observation information, to urban residents and non-farmers to help them settle safely.

As of 2022, there were 16,906 returning farming households nationwide. In the same year, Pohang had 102 returning farming households, ranking 52nd among 226 basic local governments nationwide and 13th among 23 cities and counties in the province.

This is a level comparable to Seogwipo City and Jeju City, which are gaining attention for experiential tourism and returning farming and rural living. Pohang operates the ‘Pohang City Returning Farming and Rural Living Information Center’ to attract potential returnees.

The chatbot consultation service of the Pohang City Returning Farming and Rural Living Information Center continuously provides and updates information on Pohang’s support policies related to returning farming and necessary information for returning farmers.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok stated, “We will create an environment where talented local agriculturalists can stay in rural areas and lead regional development through cultivating excellent farmers,” adding, “We will devote ourselves to policy development for rural advancement to enhance the region’s agricultural competitiveness and strive for rural areas where people want to live and for harmonious development between urban and rural areas.”

Pohang City will be the first in Gyeongsangbuk-do to host the ‘77th National Rural Leaders Convention,’ scheduled to be held over three days in October. Through this event, the city plans to showcase the capabilities of Pohang’s rural leaders and comprehensively promote Pohang’s outstanding agricultural achievements as well as the region’s history, culture, and tourism resources.

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