By UN Journal Kayla Lee

Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do, recently hosted 30 people, including Ambassador of Malaysia to Korea Mohd Zamruni bin Khalid, the deputy ambassador of Papua New Guinea to Korea, and officials from the Marshall Embassy in Korea, for a two-day, one-night tour of Heuksan-do Island.

The tour was held to promote the 'K-Tourism Island, Heuksan-do Island,' project that Sinan-gun is working on, and to establish cooperation and linkages with invited organizations.

Heuksan-do Island was selected as a project target for the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's K-Tourism Island Development Competition in 2023 and secured 10 billion won in project budgets.

The 'K-Tourism Island Development Project' is a project that builds the unique resources of islands such as humanities, nature, and ecology into attractive tourism contents that meet global tourism trends.

By 2026, the project will promote the creation of a fish asset theme village, tourism vitalization of seasonal fish market, revitalization of birdwatching tourism, and manufacturing of a maritime tourism boat.

On the first day, the participants traveled by speedboat to Heuksan-do Island to take a tour of the island and experience the island's seasonal foods such as wild sashimi.

Mr. Lee Young-il, a native of the island, gave a commentary and told the story of Dr. Jeong Yak-jeon's exile, the story of marine products, and the story of specialty redfish fishing.

On the second day, the group traveled to Hongdo Island, which has been designated as a natural monument, and enjoyed the 10 scenic spots of Hongdo Island on a cruise ship.

“The scenery is very beautiful and the story of migratory birds visiting and resting on the island was particularly interesting,” said an official from the Embassy of Malaysia in Korea. ”We hope that more people will experience the island's beautiful scenery and well-preserved ecosystem.”

“As a representative tourist destination of Korea, Heuksan-do Island has high ecological and geological value,” said Kim Geun-ha, director general of the County Culture and Urban Support Center. ”We will strive to make Heuksan-do Island a global healing destination that is on the bucket list of people around the world.”

Meanwhile, the K-Tourism Island development project is being promoted in conjunction with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport's small island airport construction project, and when the airport is completed in 2026, the travel time between Seoul and Heuksan-do Island will be drastically reduced from seven hours to one hour.