Introduction to Icheon City: Filled with Creativity

A city of quality ceramic, rice, semiconductor, and so many other things you might wanna know. It is also known as UNESCO Creative city.

ⓒClip Art Korea

Icheon City is located in southeastern Gyeonggi Province in close proximity to Seoul. The Jungbu Expressway and Yeongdong Expressway intersect at this major hub of transportation, where many manufacturing and logistics operations are located.

Icheon is well known for its annual ceramics festival, and it even hosts a biennale in cooperation with the cities of Gwangju and Yeoju. It is also renowned for its rice and strictly regulates the sale of rice so that unscrupulous sellers cannot market rice from other regions as "Icheon rice." The brand campaign involving “Imgeumnimypo (Rice King) Icheon Rice” is regarded as having been successful with consumers.

Additionally, Icheon is famous for its hot springs, peaches and cornelian cherries. A cornelian cherry festival is held every year in Baeksa-myeon, and a cornelian cherry makgeolli is one of the region’s major products.

Despite the fame of these various assets, however, the strength of Icheon’s economy is found in the semiconductor industry. In 2018, SK Hynix even invested KRW 3.5 trillion to expand semiconductor production in Icheon.

Termeden Spa Icheon
ⓒGyeonggi Province

Tourism Industry

1. Icheon Ceramics Festival

The Icheon Ceramics Festival is renowned globally for beautiful artworks and traditional culture displays from all over the world. It is an art festival that provides participants with unique experiential opportunities such as pottery-making, traditional-kiln lighting, and more. Icheon keeps the ceramic arts alive in Korea; the Korean International Ceramic Binennale, which Icheon co-hosts with the cities of Gwangju and Yeoju, plays a central role in promoting the excellence of Korean ceramic arts.

Icheon Ceramic Festival
ⓒGyeonggi Province

2. Icheon Rice Culture Festival

Rice is Icheon’s leading specialty product. A festival is held every year at harvest time to promote the excellence of Icheon rice, and many interesting events take place including reenactments of traditional agriculture practices such as conventional threshing and thatching. In addition, participants can also try out freshly harvested rice cooked in iron pots.

UNESCO Creative City

A UNESCO Creative City is one that offers an suitable foundation for culture, the arts, knowledge, and information industries and pursues independent growth through various networks. Cities that foster healthy communities by promoting high-added-value industries, unique local cultures, and sources of pride (among other things) are selected for UNESCO Creative City designation, enabling sustainable development between Creative Cities.

Icheon is a ceramic-specialized city that features a high concentration of ceramic artists and related specialists as well as strong ceramic infrastructure that includes educational and research institutions . In light of this fact, Icheon was the first Korean city to be recognized as a craft-specialized UNESCO Creative City in July 2010.

Seolbong Park Icheon
ⓒGyeonggi Province

Major News in 2021

Thanks to the SK Hynix expansion, the creation of an industrial complex, and other active efforts to attract corporations and create new jobs in tandem with various employment agencies, such as the Icheon Job Center and Icheon Women’s New Jobs Center, Icheon realized the highest employment rate in Gyeonggi-do in the second half of 2020. This was in spite of unprecedented difficulties caused by the spread of COVID-19.

Icheon will continue to pursue various strategic job-related projects in various fields, including the creation of jobs in culture and tourism sectors through the operation of a job commission under the direct supervision of the mayor, as well as the support of social enterprises and vitalization of community and youth groups, the development of ceramics and cultural industries, and the hosting of the International Illusion Festival. Other initiatives include the operation of senior clubs for the expansion/specialization of workplaces for the elderly in response to an aging society, enhancement of competitiveness in the agro-livestock sector through enhancement of the Imgeumnimpyo Icheon Rice brand and the senary sector of the industry, and support for small business and vitalization of regional economies through the issuance of KRW 30 billion in Icheon Sarang local currency.