Muju County Selected for Ministry of the Interior and Safety's "Youth Village Development Project"

Muju County in North Jeolla Province has been selected as a target site for the "2025 Youth Village Development Project" organized by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, securing a total project budget of 600 million won.

According to the county on the 21st, the project aims to revitalize the local area and encourage young people to settle down stably by utilizing idle spaces in the region to create hubs that support various youth activities such as entrepreneurship, culture, and housing.

Exterior view of Muju County Office. Provided by Muju County

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A total of 147 youth organizations from across the country participated in the public contest, and 12 were selected. Muju County, which applied with the "Santaji Village in Mupung-myeon," was recognized for its strengths, including year-round backpacking opportunities, accessibility within two hours from major cities, connectivity between local and cultural arts, potential for space utilization, multi-layered program operations, and community acceptance.

Santaji Village has proposed a sustainable growth model for rural communities, including the establishment of a Muju-style youth settlement model by 2027, experiments with jobs based on backpacking, trekking, and local food, and collaborative projects that connect youth with local residents.

The project also received positive evaluations for its goal of creating a "global mountain outdoor youth village" where nature and youth come together, as well as for its youth-oriented elements, operational plans tailored to those who love nature and enjoy activities and adventure.

Seo Seona, CEO of Farmers FNS, who is in charge of promoting the Santaji Village development project, said, "Santaji Village is a youth village centered around year-round backpacking, where young people can experience living in nature. We aim to expand the meaning from 'traveling to live' to 'living as a way of life,' and will focus on providing programs that allow young people to heal and embark on new challenges in the county's beautiful nature, symbolized by its mountains."

The Santaji Village space will be divided by function, with plans to establish the following hubs: a complex cultural space connecting the region and youth (Santaji House), a youth education platform for understanding and experimenting with Muju's nature and local resources (Santaji School), and a local food lab featuring the flavors of Muju (Santaji Base). These hubs will support the entire process of youth experience, experimentation, and entrepreneurship in connection with various programs.

Kim Seongok, head of the Population Vitality Division of the county, stated, "We will do our utmost administratively so that Santaji Village, which interprets Muju's resources from the perspective of youth, can become attractive content that captivates both domestic and international young people. If Santaji Village is successfully established and operated stably, we expect that Muju will be able to overcome the crisis of local extinction it currently faces."

Meanwhile, Farmers FNS has been active in Mupung-myeon since 2020 as a youth enterprise, serving as a community host that connects the region and youth in various fields such as agriculture, local food, experiential programs, and space planning.

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