Gumi City, Harmonizing Work and Life... Realizing a Romantic Cultural City

Gumi City in Gyeongbuk is making every effort to realize a "romantic cultural city where work and life are in harmony."

Scenes from the 2022 Gumi Ramyeon Camping Festival.

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In particular, the city is focusing on discovering and nurturing unique representative festivals exclusive to Gumi, and by successfully securing the hosting rights for the 2025 Asian Athletics Championships, it is accelerating efforts to make Gumi a charming city where romance and vitality blend together.

The city is striving to improve residential conditions by establishing various cultural infrastructure and to provide citizens with high-quality cultural services. The Gangdong Dream Tree Cultural Sharing Center, a living SOC complex facility including a public library, national sports center, and daycare center, is scheduled for completion in November.

The Gumi Video Media Center, completed in March this year and currently in pilot operation, is set to open in October and is expected to lead video culture in the era of individual media.

Additionally, to establish new urban value and identity through the reappraisal of cultural resources such as history and art, which have been overshadowed by the city's industrial value, Gumi is creating a cultural city and preparing for the designation as a "Cultural City" in 2024.

Administrative foundations have been laid through ordinance enactment, the launch of a support center, and a business agreement with the Gyeongbuk Cultural Foundation. The city is steadily promoting autonomous citizen activities support and cultural workforce development projects to build a solid foundation for the local cultural ecosystem.

The city is also attempting to discover and develop festival content that reflects new lifestyle, tourism, and consumption trends. A food and drink festival focusing more on the theme of "ramyeon" will be held for three days from November 10 to 12 in the old downtown area, transforming Gumi Culture Street, Geumridan-gil, and Saemaeul Central Market into festival venues.

Moreover, this spring, Gumi successfully hosted "Go Out Camp," the largest camping festival in Korea, marking a turning point that drew nationwide attention to the city of Gumi among the 5.2 million camping population.

The 2022 1st Gumi Food Festival, held with the theme of Gumi cuisine, is regarded as a successful festival amid the absence of a representative local festival.

This year, on October 28 and 29, the festival site at Songjeong Bokgaecheon parking lot will be expanded into four zones with about 70 food booths, operating a historical-themed dining table & Gumi Taste Special Exhibition Hall, a kids zone, and more.

In December last year, by successfully securing the hosting rights for the 2025 Asian Athletics Championships, Gumi has firmly established itself as a prestigious international sports city.

With about 1,200 participants from 45 countries expected, this event is the largest and most prestigious athletics competition in Asia. Korea will host it in Gumi for the first time in 20 years since the 1975 Seoul (2nd) and 2005 Incheon (16th) championships.

The competition for participation rights in the 2025 Tokyo World Athletics Championships, held the same year, is expected to intensify the athletes' enthusiasm. With many athletes, officials, and referees visiting Gumi, it will enhance the value of Gumi as a premium sports city and greatly contribute to revitalizing the local economy.

Mayor Kim Jang-ho stated, "Gumi, once overshadowed by its industrial city value, is transforming into a city with abundant cultural resources, actively utilizing them to discover unique representative festivals and becoming a city visited nationwide. We will do our best to make it an attractive city full of romance and vitality, where every citizen can easily enjoy leisure activities in their daily lives."

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