On Aug. 8, 2023 at 11 a.m., a business agreement was signed for the purpose of mutual development through cultural exchange, joint response to the crisis of rural depopulation, expansion of living population, and leap to a cultural city through regional cooperation, and a joint international forum was held at 1:30 p.m.
The forum is hosted by the Sokcho Cultural City Center (Sokcho Culture and Tourism Foundation) and is entitled "Sok, Go, Yang GO-EAST FORUM with Kamiyama" and will discuss the role of local culture in responding to the need of rural depopulation and expanding the living population.
The forum will begin with opening remarks on the meaning of GO-EAST by Kwon Soon-seok, CEO of Cultural Consulting Barra, and literary critic Ko Young-jik, who will discuss the value and meaning of the east (Sokcho, Goseong, and Yangyang), which is called the Yeongbuk region.
In this forum, the participants will hear first-hand the story of Kamiyama City of Japan that made global headlines with a single photo of a man sitting by a stream working on his laptop. Tomomi Takada, director of the Kamiyama Solidarity Corporation, which develops condominiums and manages old houses, and Yoko Kato, who manages artist residencies at the NPO Green Valley, will share their experiences in Kamiyama.
For local cases, Ms. Jeon Ok-rang of Yangyang Recycling Company, Mr. Park Dae-woo of Goseong Onda Press, and Jung Mi-hyun of Sokcho-based social enterprise Bitnago will share their stories of immigration.
Prior to this, on August 8, the three foundations sign a business agreement to discover linkage projects for mutual development through cultural exchanges between regions.
