Sokcho City Announces Top 10 News of 2025... Yeongrang Lake Tourism Complex Ranks First

Strengthening Cruise Port Competitiveness and Expanding Transportation Welfare Policies Followed
7,742 Citizens and Tourists Participated, Reflecting Growing Interest in City Governance

The selection of the Top 10 News of Sokcho City, chosen directly by citizens through voting, has been completed. The announcement of the plan to create an eco-friendly Yeongrang Lake tourism complex worth approximately 1 trillion won took first place, demonstrating where citizens' greatest interest lies for Sokcho's future.

Top 10 News of Sokcho City in 2025. Provided by Sokcho City

This year's Top 10 News selection was conducted using Naver Forms, allowing both citizens and tourists to participate directly. The voting took place over ten days, from November 20 to 29, during which participants were asked to select between 5 and 10 out of 20 candidate news items. As a result, a total of 7,742 people participated, marking a 27.8% increase compared to last year's 6,055 participants. On average, each person selected 6.43 items, leading to a total of 49,812 votes cast. Sokcho City finalized the top 10 news items based on the highest number of votes as the Top 10 News of 2025.

The top-ranked news item was the "Creation of an Eco-Friendly Yeongrang Lake Tourism Complex Worth 1 Trillion Won."

This project aims to resolve issues that have plagued Yeongrang Lake for over 50 years, including concerns over haphazard development due to the expiration of long-standing urban planning facilities, landscape damage from abandoned pensions after wildfires, and safety problems caused by mixed pedestrian and vehicle traffic. To address these, a total of 1 trillion won will be invested to transform Yeongrang Lake into a nature-friendly tourism and cultural space. A cutoff wall will be installed to safely separate pedestrian paths from roadways, and a two-way road will be opened to improve traffic flow. In addition, large-scale cultural facilities for citizens, such as a sports center, museum, and parks, will be expanded, making this a key project expected to drive balanced development in the relatively underdeveloped northern area.

The second place went to the strengthening of cruise port competitiveness, which has opened a new chapter for marine tourism.

Sokcho Port raised its international profile by winning the Asia Excellent Port Award at the 2025 Shanghai International Cruise Summit. The operational foundation of the international cruise terminal, accessibility to port destinations, and efforts to attract global cruise lines all received high marks, further enhancing the city's growth potential, especially in connection with the opening of two major railways in the future.

The third place was awarded to the policy of expanding free transportation cards for youth and seniors.

The free bus rides for youth quickly gained traction, surpassing 27,000 uses within just over a month of implementation. The number of senior users also continued to rise, proving the effectiveness of enhanced transportation welfare. Sokcho City regards this as a flagship policy that citizens can directly feel, as it expands mobility rights and reduces transportation costs.

Beyond these, this year's Top 10 News covers a wide range of changes in tourism, welfare, the local economy, and living infrastructure.

In fourth place was the news that Sokcho Beach, with unique content such as a silent festival and the Sea of Light Sokcho, was selected as Gangwon-do's best themed beach. Fifth place went to the designation of border areas and selection as a Peace Economic Special Zone, laying the foundation for a new leap forward beyond 70 years of security sacrifices.

Sixth place was the news that the expansion of the Seoraksan access road would begin to resolve traffic congestion. Seventh place went to the installation of the Cheoksan water supply pipeline and improvements to aging water supply facilities, achieving stable water supply. Eighth place was awarded to Sokcho, the city of food culture, for successfully hosting various festivals, including the 60th Seorak Cultural Festival. Ninth place recognized Sokcho City for winning the grand prize at the SBS Hometown Love Donation Awards and ranking first in Gangwon Province for hometown love donation fundraising for two consecutive years. The tenth and final spot went to the news that Cheongcho Lake has been reborn as a space for citizens, thanks to the renovation of performance facilities and the installation of a barefoot walking trail in the Cheongcho Lake Amusement Park area.

This year's Top 10 News is especially meaningful as it represents the achievements of city administration that were directly evaluated and selected by citizens. In particular, the high ranking of the Yeongrang Lake tourism complex project and the growth of the cruise industry are interpreted as signals of what citizens consider important for building a sustainable future for Sokcho over the next 100 years.

Lee Byungseon, Mayor of Sokcho, emphasized, "The selection of this year's Top 10 News clearly shows the direction of Sokcho and where citizens' expectations lie," adding, "We will make every effort to steadily promote various key mid- to long-term projects, enhance the city's competitiveness, and implement policies that citizens can truly experience."

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