Chungnam Province proposes ecological restoration and tourism models, including Janghang Brownfield, at a National Assembly seminar on introducing the national recreation park system -

On the 16th, Chungnam Province presented the Seocheon region as the optimal location if the national recreation park designation system is introduced, during a seminar held at the National Assembly titled “Seminar on Introducing the National Recreation Park Designation System.”

The seminar was co-hosted by Members of the National Assembly Kim Hyung-dong and Kim Joo-young, and co-organized by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment and the Korea National Park Service. It was attended by academia, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and metropolitan and local governments to discuss directions for establishing designation criteria and the expected effects of introducing the system.

This system is being promoted with the aim of achieving coexistence between local residents and the state by linking local ecological resources with public recreation and tourism while maintaining the conservation functions of existing national parks.

At the event, the province welcomed the introduction of the new national recreation park system, which can simultaneously realize ecological conservation, public recreation and leisure, and regional economic revitalization, while emphasizing the necessity of establishing it in the Janghang area of Seocheon-gun.

Participating as a panelist, Kim Young-myung, Director-General of the Climate, Environment and Forest Bureau of the Province, stated, “When designating national recreation parks, institutional foundations must be established so that various ecological resources with high ecological value, such as coastal areas, mudflats, and wetlands as well as rivers and lakes, can be included,” presenting Seocheon-gun as a representative target area.

Seocheon possesses outstanding ecological resources, including mudflats designated as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site, the Geumgang Estuary, Yubudo Island, and the Janghang National Wetland.

Along with these, national-level ecological restoration projects such as the Janghang Brownfield ecological restoration are underway, providing conditions suitable for creating a national recreation park that combines ecological restoration with recreation and tourism.

Based on the discussions from this seminar, the province plans to continuously respond to the process of establishing laws and systems related to national recreation parks and concentrate administrative capabilities so that the Seocheon region can be designated as a national recreation park when the system is established.

Kim Young-myung, Director-General of the Climate, Environment and Forest Bureau, stated, “We will actively present opinions during the system-making process so that national recreation parks can settle as a new national policy model that simultaneously realizes ecological conservation, public recreation, and regional development,” and added, “Once the system is established in the future, we will do our utmost to ensure that Seocheon-gun is reviewed as a representative national recreation park target area.”