To extend practical English education and to provide an English culture to the public, Korea’s first English Town will be established in the Gyeonggi province.

The English Town project was one of Provincial Governor, Hak-kyu Sohn’s election pledge. Sohn was the subject of interest for bringing up a induction organization for the project.

The main enforcement group for the English Town, the Gyeonggi English Culture Foundation has analyzed and evaluated the results of Gyeonggi Research Institute (京畿開發硏究院)’s research and selected Tongildongsan (統一東山) in Paju-si to be the site.

The chosen site takes up 280,100㎡ (84,730 pyeong) of land already possessed by the provincial government. The site can be easily visited by its location and various cultural art facilities nearby enhance the educational environment.

Basic construction plans will be settled this month and basic design will complete in June of 2004. Actual construction will start in August, 2004 and complete in December 2005. Official opening of the Gyeonggi-do English Town is scheduled to be on May 2006.