Gokseong County Earns A Grade in Local Extinction Response Fund Investment Plan Evaluation

Secured 8 Billion Won in Incentives, Gokseong Vitality Town to Be Established
Gokseong Aesallae, Vacant House Improvement Project, and More

On December 8, Gokseong County in South Jeolla Province announced that it had received an A grade in the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's evaluation of the "2026 Local Extinction Response Fund Investment Plan," thereby securing a total fund of 8 billion won in incentives and 8 billion won in total funding.

The county submitted a total of five projects aligned with its three-phase strategy of "Experience Life in Gokseong on the Seomjin River - Settle Down - Establish Residency." These include the Stay & Play Gokseong Life Hub project, which aims to vitalize the residential population; the creation of a Gokseong-style Youth Housing Town to strengthen youth settlement; the establishment of a youth commercial district in Gokseong-eup; the Gokseong Vitality Town project to improve the residential environment for returnees, new rural residents, and foreigners; the Gokseong Aesallae project; and a vacant house improvement project.

Gokseong County Office Building Exterior,

The core project, the Gokseong Life Hub, involves transforming the youth hostel within the Seomjingang Train Village-a major tourist attraction visited by over 1.4 million people annually-into a mid- to large-scale accommodation facility tentatively named "Seomjingang Stay."

Although Gokseong's residential population is 5.19 times higher than the average for regions experiencing population decline, the county has so far only attracted short-term visitors due to poor lodging infrastructure and a declining commercial district. The goal is to activate "Seomjingang Stay" as a tourism hub for longer-term stays and thereby expand the residential population.

In addition, the county plans to promote six projects under the "JiGokDdae (Now is the Time to Come to Gokseong)" initiative, including the development of local tourism products, nurturing local makers, and developing the Gokseong Local Pass app linked to the local currency, with the aim of creating local jobs for young people and revitalizing the local economy.

Furthermore, Gokseong will actively respond to the risk of local extinction by operating a corporate workation program to create a long-term stay model for the Simcheong Hanok Village workation, which attracts about 500 young employees from companies annually; providing region-specific educational programs linked to rural study villages and supporting jobs for parents; and supporting programs to help foreigners settle under the region-specific visa system-all as part of efforts to attract a stable residential population.

A county official stated, "The investment projects initially designed to attract and settle young people in Gokseong are being completed step by step without any setbacks, and we are seeing results in attracting new residents, including rural study students, young farmers, and returnees. Next year, we will make the best use of these foundational facilities to discover attractive projects and jobs that can draw in the residential population, and strive to create a regional model that achieves 'inflow, settlement, and residency' of new residents."

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