Yanggu County Selected as a New UNESCO Global Learning City for 2025

One of 72 Cities from 46 Countries Worldwide... Three Cities Selected from South Korea
International Recognition for Lifelong Learning Foundations and Locally Tailored Learning Policies

Yanggu County in Gangwon Province has been selected as a new member city of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC) for 2025. This result was announced by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) on December 4 (local time). A total of 72 cities from 46 countries worldwide have newly joined, including Yanggu County, Gangdong District in Seoul, and Anseong City in Gyeonggi Province from South Korea.

Aerial view of Yanggu County Office.

UNESCO defines a learning city as "a vital foundation that extends lifelong learning throughout all aspects of life, provides learning opportunities for all citizens, and drives sustainable growth and innovation in the community." Yanggu County's selection is seen as recognition that its lifelong learning ecosystem and resident participation-based educational environment meet international standards.

Yanggu County has continuously promoted a variety of lifelong learning policies, including expanding digital and basic literacy education, operating vocational, cultural, and daily life learning programs tailored to local characteristics, and strengthening cooperation among institutions, villages, schools, and the private sector. As a result of these efforts, "Yanggu, Republic of Korea" has been officially listed as a new learning city on UNESCO's official website.

By joining the GNLC, Yanggu County will gain opportunities to exchange policies and participate in joint projects with 425 learning cities worldwide. The county also expects various ripple effects, such as sharing best practices among international learning cities, enhancing the regional brand value in tourism, culture, and education, and expanding learning opportunities for residents. In particular, qualitative growth in learning policies is anticipated in areas closely related to residents' lives, such as improving digital literacy, exploring career paths and strengthening vocational skills, and supporting lifelong learning for the elderly.

Looking ahead, Yanggu County plans to focus on building a learning city brand based on local characteristics, strengthening lifelong learning tailored to different life stages such as youth, women, and the elderly, and expanding the regional learning platform by connecting learning centers, small libraries, and village learning spaces. The county also intends to actively participate in international learning city conferences and exchange programs to continuously expand its learning capacity and network.

Park Insook, Head of the Lifelong Learning Division, stated, "Yanggu County's new selection for the GNLC is the result of a lifelong learning culture that local residents have built together being recognized internationally," and added, "We will continue to create a learning environment that is easily accessible to all residents and strengthen the foundation for lifelong education that drives the region's sustainable growth."

Meanwhile, the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC), launched in 2013, is an international UNESCO network composed of learning cities worldwide that have successfully promoted lifelong learning throughout their communities. With this expansion, the network has grown into a global community providing lifelong learning opportunities to approximately 500 million citizens in 425 cities across 91 countries.

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