Gyeonggi Province Announces Final Results of "DMZ OPEN Idea Contest," Awards Presented to 9 Teams Including Grand Prize Winner

‘Digital Peace Road’ Wins Grand Prize with Digital Experiential Exhibition Proposal
Ideas Proposed for Four Categories: DMZ Concert, Exhibition, Forum, and Sports
Selected Ideas to Be Incorporated into the 2026 DMZ OPEN Festival

Gyeonggi Province held the final presentation and awards ceremony for the "2025 DMZ OPEN Idea Contest" at KINTEX in Goyang on the 20th, selecting Namho Cho (individual), who presented under the theme "Digital Peace Road: An Experience of Peace Connecting Generations," as the grand prize winner.

Gyeonggi Province held the final presentation and awards ceremony for the "2025 DMZ OPEN Idea Contest" on the 20th at KINTEX in Goyang. Provided by Gyeonggi Province

The "DMZ OPEN Idea Contest" was established to raise national interest in the DMZ and to create the "DMZ OPEN Festival" together through innovative ideas directly proposed by the public.

This contest, held under the theme "DMZ OPEN Festival Made by Me" for about four months starting from July 14, was characterized by its integration with the "DMZ OPEN Festival," aiming to overcome the limitations of previous formats that ended with simple proposals.

Ideas selected through the first round of document screening were refined through mentoring by experts in each field. Participants then directly joined the 2025 DMZ OPEN Festival site to assess the feasibility of implementing their ideas. Subsequently, in the second round of presentation reviews, nine finalist teams were chosen and competed in the final presentation round after additional expert mentoring.

During the final presentation round, participants presented their ideas and engaged in Q&A sessions with experts from academia, industry, and other sectors. The final award rankings were determined through a rigorous evaluation by experts based on four criteria: understanding of the theme, creativity, completeness, and applicability.

The grand prize went to Namho Cho (individual) for his presentation in the exhibition category, "Digital Peace Road: An Experience of Peace Connecting Generations." The top excellence awards were given to Team Shanti Shanti for "Peace is Here: DMZ Yoga Festival" in the sports category, and Team MZ Tourism for "DMZ: Escape Beyond the Divide" in the exhibition category.

Excellence awards were presented to Dayoung Song (individual) for "DMZ Peace & Digital Concert" in the concert category, Eunsung Yang (individual) for "DMZ Exploration Trunk: Open the Road to Peace" in the sports category, and Team Forestdam for "The Forest Where Peace Sprouts, DMZ" in the exhibition category. Encouragement awards went to Seojeong Kim (individual) for "AI, Turning the Barbed Wire of the DMZ into Waves of Light: Engraving Future Peace" in the exhibition category, Team EMINI for "Little Peace Explorers, Save the Animal Friends," and Team LINKUS for "[ZERO DISTANCE,]" both in the exhibition category.

The grand prize-winning "Digital Peace Road" proposed a new approach to accessibility, allowing anyone to experience the value of the DMZ without spatial limitations through digital experiential exhibitions targeting Millennials & Gen Z and nationwide pop-up exhibitions called "DMZ in the City."

The top excellence award-winning "DMZ Yoga Festival" presented a tourism model that enables the practice of peace in daily life by utilizing wellness-based sports programs such as yoga, meditation, and relaxation. Another top excellence award-winning entry, "DMZ: Escape Beyond the Divide," offered an idea to experience the DMZ in a more engaging and immersive way through a participatory program combining interactive content and digital immersive technology.

The selected ideas are planned to be actively incorporated into the "2026 DMZ OPEN Festival."

Taehyun Kim, Director of the Peace and Cooperation Bureau of Gyeonggi Province, stated, "Many creative and practical ideas were presented, making this a meaningful contest. We will continue our efforts to realize the 'DMZ OPEN Festival created by everyone together.'"

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