News Story to Highlight 'Youngest Village' with Average Age of 27... Airing on the 29th

On Saturday, August 29th at 8:00 AM, SBS 'News Story' will examine the success conditions of 'Youth Villages' through the stories of young people who renovated an abandoned school to create a village and revitalized a declining old downtown area into a startup base.

The Youngest Village in South Korea

'Seo-ro Village' in Yeonggwang, Jeonnam, introduces itself as 'the youngest village in South Korea' with an average age of 27. Six years ago, following a village pastor's purchase and donation of an abandoned school to the village, young people began gathering one by one to renovate the school and create a village. Kim Woo-hyun (30), the village leader and the last graduate of this school, is working hard alongside other young people to protect their hometown. The youth have remodeled the abandoned school to create cafes, burger shops, and woodworking shops to generate income. As steady income, new challenges, and the comfortable daily life unique to the countryside gained word-of-mouth, young people from cities 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 Making' project in 2018. This project provides 600 million won over three years to selected youth villages to help young people connect with local people and resources; so far, 61 locations have been selected as youth villages. Among them, Kim Man-i (37), the representative of 'Collective Intelligence' in the Honggo-tong street of Hongseong, Chungnam, moved to Hongseong—a place where he had no connections—six years ago and is now turning 'Honggo-tong,' a once-bustling downtown area that has since declined, 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 in Honggo-tong, which was over 40%, has dropped to 10%. Representative Kim Man-i emphasized, "Local is a magical space where my efforts return as 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 project, stated that since this is a policy that has never existed before, one should not rush for immediate, visible results. He argued that while the majority of 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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