A city filled with culture: ceramics, multicultural, eco. As much as the city looks after citizens' better lives, it embraces its cultural uniqueness
Yeoju City is located southeast of Seoul. It is bordered by Wonju City (Gangwon Province) to the east, Icheon City to the west, Yangpyeong County to the north, and Chungju City (North Chungcheong Province) to the south. On September 23, 2013, it was promoted from county to city level, making it the most recently promoted city in the country. Together with neighboring Icheon City, it is renowned as a major center of contemporary Korean ceramics and cohosts the World Ceramic Exposition (Korean International Ceramic Biennale). Apart from ceramics, the high-quality quality rice, sweet potatoes, and yellow melons produced in Yeoju are the pride of local farmers.The Namhan River flows right through the center of Yeoju, and the city is home to two UNESCO World Heritage sites: the royal tombs of King Sejong (1397-1450, reign 1418-1450) and Hyojong (1619-1659, reign 1649-1659). One of the most interesting destinations in the city is ‘The Phone,’ the world’s first and only phone museum. This museum exhibits the history of the phone from the first version invented by Alexander G. Bell to the latest smartphones.
Yeoju City is also famous as the birthplace of Kian84, a member of the variety show ‘I Live Alone’ and also one of the most famous webtoon artists in Korea.
 |
| Yeoju Gangcheonseom Isalnd ⓒGyeonggi Province |
Current Policies and Industries
Innovative Education
In a recent education evaluation undertaken by the Korean central government, Yeoju City topped the list of cities in the nation with a population of less than 500 thousand. Considering that the evaluation of the education sector has seen Yeoju’s ranking rocket from 55th place last year to 1st place this year, the city’s innovative education policy has been deemed to be a success.Yeoju City Mayor Lee Hang-jin established new Yeoju education initiatives, including the establishment of a lifelong education department comprised of a lifelong learning team, innovation education team, education facility team, Yeoju library team, and Sejong library team. The lifelong education department is pursuing projects such as student-organized tours, creative student-led curricula, and online education programs for the safety of the students. The city is planning to double the budget for the education sector from KRW 8.8 billion in 2019 to KRW 16.2 billion this year, with an innovative education district project, school environment improvement project, career center operation, and various lifelong education projects slated for implementation.
Ceramic Industry Support
Yeoju City has allocated a budget for local restaurants to replace low-quality plastic tableware with Yeoju ceramic utensils so as to help local ceramic enterprises overcome recent economic difficulties stemming from the cancelation of the World Ceramic Exposition.This policy will help secure markets for ceramic enterprises, support small restaurant owners, reduce start-up costs for business owners, provide hygienic ceramic utensils for visitors, and promote the excellence of Yeoju City’s ceramics. The support recipients are restaurant owners in Yeoju (including those scheduled to start their businesses), who will receive assistance amounting to 80% of the purchase cost of ceramic utensils up to a limit of KRW 3 million.
 |
| At the back of the Yeoju-si City Hall ⓒGyeonggi Province |
Latest News and Action Plan for 2021
Multicultural Family Support
As the number of marriage immigrants in the city has been steadily increasing, Yeoju City will support the cost of applying for the naturalization of marriage immigrants so as to reduce the burden of application fees while supporting stable settlement. Marriage immigrants who actually reside in the city for over six months and have received naturalization certification after January 1, 2020, are eligible for this support. Marriage immigrants residing Yeoju who want to apply can visit their local community and welfare centers to submit an application including copies of their naturalization certificate (original copy), resident registration certificate, alien registration certificate, and bankbook.In addition, the city operates various programs to help foreign residents, including multicultural family supporters and marriage immigrant translation and interpretation services.
Yeogang River (A.K.A Namhangang River) Cultural Contents and Clean Project
Yeoju City was selected for the 2021 Eco-friendly Cleanup Project by the Ministry of Environment and will receive KRW 2.1 billion. The city plans to connect a trail cut off by a stream with a suspension bridge so as to preserve the ecosystem and biological resources of the Yeogang River from Dorisum Island to Cheongmicheon Stream to Seomgang River for the purposes of research and cultural content creation. |
| Yeoju Silleuksa Temple ⓒGyeonggi Province |
COMMENTS