Asan City is a city that has continued its remarkable growth amid the 2020 novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) crisis. Convenient transportation, well equipped infrastructure, Asan's unique culture and progressive and progressive human resources are the power and foundation of development.
While Asan Mayor Oh Se hyeon was active as the 7th mayor of the popular election, Asan City received a total of 149 awards in external evaluations, including the Korea Autonomous Development Award, the National Local Government Job Award, and the Korea's Representative Brand Investment City Category Award. It is the result of Mayor Oh setting clear corrective goals and running. The recent changes in Asan City, such as the establishment of infrastructure to nurture future industries and the continuous revitalization of the tourism industry, are noteworthy.
Asan continues to grow to the extent that the expression “Sangjeonbyeokhae” is appropriate every year. This year alone, Edward of the UK, the world's No. 1 producer of vacuum pumps for semiconductor processes, and CSK of Sweden, the world's third largest in the field of semiconductor and display gas processing equipment, have decided to invest 122.2 billion won in the Tangjeong General Industrial Complex in Asan City for 5 years.
There are many evaluations of the remarkable economic development of Asan City.
“The 7th Asan City Public Election, launched with the slogan of ‘Bigger Asan, Happy Citizens’, has been running with the goal of becoming a ‘500,000 self sufficient city’. The goal is not to simply increase the size of the population, but to create an environment conducive to business, increase quality jobs, and create an urban environment that can accommodate the naturally increased population. Thanks to the step-by-step process of laying the foundations, Asan City's achievement of attracting companies in 2020 was a record high. In 2020 alone, 21 companies set up offices in Asan or made large-scale investments, with an investment of about 600 billion won and an expected new job creation of about 10,000 people. This achievement is even more dazzling as it is an achievement that has been achieved in the midst of global hardship caused by COVID-19.”
Are there any reasons why companies are looking to Asan?
“I think the administrative services provided by the company and the city with the goal of growing together have paid off. In Asan City, there is an organization dedicated to helping companies make investment decisions at every stage of the process. When a company finds a site, the Business Induction Support Team runs to provide a customized location, and when there are difficulties in business operation, the Corporate Management Difficulty Support Team and the permit officer work as a team to support the company. Of course, the geographical advantages of Asan City and convenient transportation infrastructure also play a role in regional development. Asan is not only close to the metropolitan area, but also has the nation's best wide-area transportation network, so if you use the high speed rail, you can reach anywhere in Seoul in 30 minutes. The industrial complex was created centered on well-equipped transportation infrastructure. There are only 12 industrial complexes under construction or announcing plans since the 7th popular election, which is 3.5 times the size of Yeouido in Seoul. Asan City is proud of its rich human resources as it is a young city with an average age of 39.7 years and there are many universities in the city.”
I heard that a plan to be reborn as a hydrogen city is also being prepared.
“Thinking of the future, since the inauguration of the 7th popular election, the Climate Change Countermeasures Division has been established and related policies have been implemented. One of them is the establishment of an eco friendly public transportation network, so we paid attention to hydrogen energy. Hydrogen buses are called “running air purifiers” because they do not emit pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and have the ability to purify fine dust. It is also the reason why we participated in the ‘hydrogen bus pilot project’ by the Ministry of Environment. The Chosa hydrogen charging station, the first hydrogen charging station in Chungcheong Province completed last year, and the introduction of 4 hydrogen buses are the results of the selection of the ‘hydrogen bus pilot project’. In addition, by 2022, 16 hydrogen buses are being introduced and two additional hydrogen charging stations are being built, and the goal is to supply 6 hydrogen-use vehicles, 1 hydrogen-use bus, and 300 private hydrogen vehicles. After Asan’s rapid promotion of a hydrogen city, the government announced the ‘Hydrogen Economy Revitalization Roadmap’ in 2019, and this point was highlighted in the Korean version of the New Deal last year, and it was evaluated that Asan’s policy direction is ahead of the future.”
Asan, the hydrogen city, is charging a hydrogen bus at the Chosa hydrogen charging station, the first hydrogen charging station in the Chungcheong region.
It isn't easy to preoccupy a new industry.
“Even though the direction is correct, relieving citizens' anxiety was one of the tasks that I hadn't thought of. When people think of hydrogen energy, they think of the word hydrogen bomb, so we had to promote the safety of hydrogen energy more widely. ‘Introduction of regular hydrogen bus routes’ is also part of the promotion of hydrogen energy safety. The use of hydrogen energy in fields that citizens can use in their daily lives will help to spread the understanding and consensus among citizens that unfamiliar energy is safe. It is also our job to create conditions so that Asan can play an important role in Korea, which will be reborn as a ‘hydrogen powerhouse’ based on this foundation.”
Onyang Hot Springs in Asan was one of Korea's representative tourist destinations.
“As domestic travel is revitalized due to COVID-19, Asan has been reemerged and is gaining popularity as a tourist city. Onyang Hot Springs was one of the honeymoon destinations that people from all over the country envy in the past. Therefore, Asan is carrying out the ‘Healing Spa-based Rehabilitation Healthcare Diversification Project’ with a focus on Onyang Hot Springs. Selected for the 2020 Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy open call project, we plan to create a base center here and build a rehabilitation healthcare platform that combines hot springs and bio-healthcare, such as equipment construction, corporate support, and human resource training. To take charge of this, we also established the Health Care Spa Industry Promotion Institute, the only institution specializing in hot springs in Korea. In addition, the strength of Asan City as a representative hot spring city with three hot spring districts (Onyang Oncheon, Dogo Onsen, and Asan Onsen) was highlighted. Based on local hot spring resources and business expertise, it was finally selected for the Onsen City pilot project hosted by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security in June. . Based on this, we plan to verify the medical and scientific efficacy of hot springs and establish a standard system for the hot spring industry in the future. Now Asan is fully prepared to be reborn as a national hub of the rehabilitation healthcare industry centered on hot springs. By linking with Human Bio, the healthcare industry can be advanced in many ways, and based on this, we expect Asan City to become the center of K-Bio healthcare in the future.”
Asan Oeam Village was selected as one of ‘Korea Tourism 100’. All things to see and experience, such as creating a night view and restoring an artificial waterway, are becoming more diverse.
.I heard that the number of tourists from Asan is steadily increasing.
“In addition to hot springs, Asan City is full of various cultural and tourism resources. So, with the inauguration of the 7th popular election, Asan City's tourism policy direction was set as 'a cultural and tourism city that people want to come back to', and actively engaged in facility maintenance and promotion. The goal is to provide tourists with a unique travel experience by spreading the story of Asan Bay, such as Hyeonchungsa Temple, Oeam Village, Ginkgo Tree Road, and Gongseri Cathedral. During the COVID 19 crisis, efforts were made to create safe travel conditions, and even though local tourism was stagnant, 1.97 million tourists in 2020 and 1 million tourists visited Asan in the first half of 2021 alone. In addition, there were no cases of mass infection through tourist destinations, so the image of Asan, a safe travel destination, was also planted. Asan City was selected as a ‘planned open regional tourism development project’ hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2020, and is currently spurring the expansion of tourism infrastructure linking Ginkgo-gil ~ Gokgyocheon ~ Hyeonchungsa Temple. Through the open-plan local tourism development project, we plan to install a media façade facility in the area of Ginkgo Road Square and create an immersive content cafe in the Ginkgo Tree Rest Area. In addition, we are preparing various tourism development projects such as the creation of an ecological park around Gokgyocheon Stream. The project will start in earnest in 2022, and when the construction is completed in 2023, it is expected that more tourists will visit Asan with the end of Corona 19.”
What are the representative tourist facilities in Asan City?
“This year, Asan Oeam Village, National Folk Cultural Property No. 236, with 500 years of history and tradition, was selected as one of the ‘100 Best Korean Tourism Destinations’ by the Korea Tourism Organization. With this as an opportunity, we have also built a humanities library and cultural heritage center in Oeam Village, and are carrying out projects such as installation of nighttime landscape lighting, reproduction of the site of Oeam Igansa, and restoration of an artificial waterway. The goal is to provide better sights and more diverse experiences to Oeam Village. Asan's representative festival, the Yi Sun sin Festival, is also something to be proud of. Every year, around April 28, the birthday of Admiral Yi Sun-sin, Asan was buzzing with Seong-woong Yi Sun-sin festival, but in the aftermath of Corona 19, last year was canceled and this year, the festival is postponed to October. As we are working hard on vaccination, I think we will be able to meet again in October and make new memories with people in the square.”
Mayor Oh said that Asan, a city of ‘bigger Asan, happy citizens’, is currently in progress as he takes care of all big and small projects to ensure that all projects are carried out without any setbacks and is devoted to the development of Asan. Asan, a livable city, has a bright future.
