Newstory Highlights 'Youngest Village' with Average Age of 27... Airing on the 29th

On Saturday, the 29th at 8:00 AM, SBS 'Newstory' will examine the success conditions of 'Youth Village Development' through the stories of young people who renovated abandoned schools to create villages and revitalized declining old downtown areas into startup bases.

The Youngest Village in South Korea

'Seoro Village' in Yeonggwang, Jeollanam-do, introduces itself as 'the youngest village in South Korea' with an average age of 27. Six years ago, following an event where a village church pastor purchased an abandoned school and donated it to the village, young people began gathering one by one to renovate the school and create a village. Kim Woo-hyun (30), the last graduate of this school and the village leader, is working together with other young people to protect their hometown. The youth are generating income by remodeling the abandoned school into cafes, burger shops, and woodworking shops. As the steady income, new challenges, and the comfortable daily life unique to the countryside gain word-of-mouth popularity, urban youth have also begun moving into the village to live.

Turning a Declining Old Downtown into a Local Startup Hub

To help young people settle in regional areas, the government launched the 'Youth Village Development' project in 2018. This project provides 600 million won over three years to selected youth villages to help young people connect local people with local resources, and so far, 61 locations have been selected as youth villages. Among them, Kim Man-i (37), the representative of 'Collective Intelligence' in the Honggotong street of Hongseong, Chungnam, moved to Hongseong—a place where he had no connections—six years ago and is turning 'Honggotong', an old downtown area that was once the largest bustling district but is now declining, into a local startup hub. Through Collective Intelligence, 20 teams have started businesses so far and 30 people have settled in Hongseong, and the vacancy rate of Honggotong, which was over 40%, has dropped to 10%. Representative Kim Man-i emphasized that "Local is a magical space where my efforts return with compound interest," calling it a land of opportunity that anyone can challenge if they have passion.

Youth Village Experiments: Why Support is Needed

Professor Hwang Jong-gyu of Dongyang University, who participated in the evaluation of the Youth Village Development project, stated that since this is a policy that has never existed before, one should not rush for immediately visible results. He argued that while most young people head to cities in search of better jobs and opportunities, we should instead support and cheer for the challenges of young people who find possibilities in regional areas.

Source: SBS Press Release

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