January 26, 2008
By Ro Ji-woong
Korea.net Staff Writer

Gyeonggi-do (Gyeonggi Province) is pushing for the long-awaited development of the country’s west coast, through the construction of a maritime experience zone and a world-class theme park.

In the southern Seoul suburb of Ansan, Seongam-do (Seongam Island) Maritime Experience Tour Zone will cover 120 million square kilometers when completed in 2010. Ansan is on the coast of the Yellow Sea and easily accessible by car or subway. The city has numerous prehistoric remains and Joseon Dynasty tombs, as well as Saripogu Estuary and Daebudo (Daebu Island).

The tour zone will consist of a leisure park, a wilderness experience and a cultural area. The leisure park will offer yachting and motorboat riding on marinas that can serve more than 1,000 yachts. The maritime arboretum will show the marine resources of the west coast for horticultural and environmental information, and visitors can dig for shellfish on the tideland. The cultural area is a place for horseback riding, pier fishing and watching performances on the beach.

The tour zone is expected to create about 10,000 jobs and generate 1.1 trillion won in production.

Ansan also boasts a maritime folk museum featuring the life of a fisherman, seashore remains and the scenic beauty of ebb and flow. The museum opened in March last year to great fanfare.

Gyeonggi-do will also finish the construction of a Universal Studios theme park by 2012 in the eco-friendly city of Songsan. In late November last year, the province and Universal Parks & Resorts signed an agreement to build the park for 2.9 trillion won (3.1 billion U.S. dollars).

Construction of “Songsan Green City” will begin in 2009 inside the neighboring Seoul suburb of Hwaseong. Songsan combines a travel and leisure town, a city on water, and an eco-friendly city. There, the destruction of nature will be minimized, and habitats for migratory birds and sites of fossilized dinosaur eggs will be preserved.

The theme park will have entertainment facilities, restaurants, hotels, exhibition and convention centers, and resort and spa centers.

Gyeonggi officials say the theme park will generate about 60,000 jobs and five trillion won in production at its opening and earn 2.9 trillion won over the next five years.

Universal Studios, operated by NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric, produces and distributes movies and operates theme parks in the United States and Japan through Universal Parks & Resorts.

The Seongam-do tourism zone and the theme park will form a major part of the province’s west coast tourism belt, which is slated for completion in 2020.

Source: Korea.net
http://www.kois.go.kr/News/News/NewsView.asp?serial_no=20080104026