Top-quality Hoengseong Beef

By Publisher Lee Kyung-sik with Editors Lee Kap-soo, Kim Young-myung

Hoengseong-gun (county) mayor Chang Shin-sang says that Heongseong’s e-Mobility Cluster project has been chosen by the government’s innovative Win-Win Job Project. In an interview with the Korea Post, Mayor Chang expressed optimism that the tourism industry in his county will gradually return to normal. Following is a summary of the interview: 

 

Hoengseong County LogoNature-friendly, human-oriented, future-oriented
Hoengseong County LogoNature-friendly, human-oriented, future-oriented

Question: First of all, could you explain about the "Hoengseong e-Mobility Cluster" project?
Answer: The Hoengseong E-Mobility Cluster project has been selected as a government Win-Win Job Project. This one is the second in the country to be selected after the Gwangju-style Win-Win Job Project.

In addition to ordinary corporate investment and job creation, a win-win agreement between economic players is signed to promote proper working conditions, stable labor-management relations and improve productivity. The e-Mobility Project aims to create new jobs while promoting improvement of the original and subcontracting applications and cooperation in infrastructure and welfare.

Of note, the e-Mobility Cluster project eliminates the dominant-subordinate relationships between small and large companies which prevail in the domestic auto industry. In the cluster, auto parts firms will work together from the vehicle development stage to the finished car stage to take initial risks and share future profits and to return additional profits to the community. This cluster is a small business-oriented business model.

 

View of Hoengseong County Office Building
View of Hoengseong County Office Building

A total of seven companies will move in the cluster and invest 74.1 billion by 2023. Some 140 billion won will be supplied from the central and local governments. The cluster will work to create up to 503 jobs and roll off 47,280 electric vehicles with combined sales of 2.16 trillion won, including 80,000 sets of exports.

The seven companies include finished car company Dvico and auto parts firms Korea EV Charger, Aveco, Gangwon EM, DB Engineering, Fine and Doarm Engineering. Dvico had already developed an ultra-small delivery-oriented electric vehicle called "Potro" with a load of less than 350kg.

Q: Changing the subject, Coronavirus 19 is expected to deal a significant blow to the local tourism sector. Is it true?

A: Most local governments may be experiencing hardships. Since outbreak of Coronavirus 19, the number of group tourists to Hoengseong has dropped sharply. However, it is fortunate that the number of individual tourists visiting Hoengseong Lake Road, an outdoor facility, is on the rise. Especially, the Hoengseong Luge Track, which opened on August 12 this year, has operated in compliance with social distancing and quarantine restrictions. As of October 26, 27,789 people have visited the site.

Due to the concerns of Coronavirus 19, tourism patterns have changed, and small family trips are expected to become more popular than group tours. In this regard, Hoengseong-gun will step up efforts to attract tourists through the operation of tourist taxis by linking the two KTX trains stations and various on-hand experience programs starting 2021.

There are five major festivals in Hoengseong-gun. Hoengseong Lake Road Festival (May), Dunnae Golangji Tomato Festival (August), Hoengseong Deodeok Festival (September), Anheung Steamed Bread Festival (October), and Hoengseong Beef Festival (October). Hoengseong's local festivals are already nationally recognized for their brand value, so they are competitive enough.

Hoengseong Korean Beef Festival seeks to promote the superior quality of Korean beef produced in Hoengseong and also pro motes Hoengseong as the true home of Korean beef. The event offers the opportunity to try delicious Korean beef and experience a variety of programs which can't be seen in the cities. It aims to promote the true brand value of Hoengseong Korean Beef and enhance the local economy and the image of Hoengseong county as well.

 

Townscape of Hoengseong-gun
Townscape of Hoengseong-gun

Of note, the Hoengseong Korean Beef Festival was selected by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as the 2020-2021 Culture and Tourism Festival. This year's festival is well-received for trying to change the festival paradigm offline and online due to the Coronavirus19.

Hoengseong-gun plans to introduce the Hoengseong Korean Beef Festival as an online festival, to prepare for the "post-Covid-19 era," and other festivals will also seek changes.

Q: Would you like to talk about the policy of fostering top-quality Hoengseong Beef?
A: Hoengseong Beef, the representative brand of Korean beef, is a Korean top-quality beef brand that has been promoted by the Hoengseong county since 1995, with a huge investment of about 100 billion won and the vigorous efforts of more than 1,900 livestock farmers.

Of note, the focus has been improving the genetic capacity of cows and sanitary distribution. Lately, the county put into practice a policy to foster Hoengseong Beef with the aim of "creating Korea’s first eco-friendly livestock environment.”

We will go extra miles to establish a best livestock industry beloved by people by building a livestock model that prioritizes the reduction of livestock odor by designating the cleanest livestock farms in the country.

In order to produce 60,000 heads of cattle, we came up with a Korean beef improvement system, protected and expanded the genetic resources of high-skilled cows as well as managing DNA at the breeding stage. In coming months, we will seek to expand the distribution of livestock smart farms, and systematically prepare for education of production farmers and sharing of livestock information.

 

Korean beef from cattle grown by grazing in Hoengseong is well-known for its top quality.
Korean beef from cattle grown by grazing in Hoengseong is well-known for its top quality.

 

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