Hapcheon-gun County in Gyeongsangnam-do (South Gyeongsang Province) overflows with history and tradition.
It also has beautiful mountains, like Gayasan and Hwangmaesan. As the nearby villages are surrounded by mountains, the region takes pride in its wonderful environment. The Hwanggang River runs through the region and is a tributary to the Nakdonggang River, the largest river in the southern part of Korea. Fertile rice paddies and farms line the river. The river also creates a nice view, attracting many people to enjoy rafting. For this reason, every year Hapcheon hosts its Cherry Blossom Marathon and its Hwanggang River Aquatic Marathon, where people run in the shallow river. This is why the slogan of Hapcheon-gun County is, "Hapcheon, a county with beautiful water," which implies a beautiful town with clean water.

The population of the county is below 50,000 and the residents live in a quite spacious area, much larger than Seoul proper which has a population of just over 10 million. The people of Hapcheon live in a much more eco-friendly environment. There are no smog-producing factories. On one hand, it can be seen as a clean, pollution-free town. On the other, however, some might say this county is developing quite slowly.

Korea.net sat down with chief of Hapcheon County Ha Chang-hwan on March 27. He has been busy organizing cooperation among local governments, which together are home to some UNESCO World Heritage items.

"In order to achieve sustainable preservation, the sharing of information, exchanges and cooperation among local governments which have UNESCO World Heritage items is essential. This is because UNESCO World Heritage items are not solely local cultural heritage items. They belong to all of humanity and need to be shared with our neighbors around the world," said the county chief.



When questioned about any difficulties the county faces due to the absence of any major industrial factories, Ha said with optimism that, “For that reason, the natural environment is relatively well-preserved. Looking further into the future, an eco-friendly environment will be something of a blessing.” He emphasized this by saying, ”We need to develop the agricultural industry, so that it can compete on quality, not just receiving government support. We should develop the farming industry by mixing it with manufacturing and the service sector, in terms of processing and distribution chains.”

Born in Hapcheon and having served the public for 40 years across the region, Ha talked about the present and the future of the county.

- In the history of the peninsula, the Gaya Confederacy (42-562) plays quite an important role. Its ironware and metalsmithing, in particular, made some of the most remarkable developments in Korean history. How important is Hapcheon in Korean history?
Today's Hapcheon was the location of the Dara Kingdom, known for its golden daggers, one of the ancient Gaya federations. Excavations and research were carried out five times between 1985 and 1991 on the ancient tombs of Okjeon, where leaders of the kingdom were buried. About 2,500 ironware items have been excavated in the 141 tombs. Among the artifacts, there are weapons, such as spears, arrows, helmets and armor, which proves the well-developed metallurgy of the Dara Kingdom. Not only iron, but Dara also developed gold processing technologies, as can be seen in the many earrings, necklaces and bracelets that have been dug up, showing quite refined taste and artistry. As proven by at least one glass item from the Roman Empire, we can theorize that the Dara Kingdom was an active trading country with overseas partners. In Hapcheon today, a variety of ironware items have been found in the many tombs of Gaya, including those in Samga-myeon Township and in Daebyeong-myeon Township, not only in Okjeon. We have also been excavating the ancient iron mines in Yaro-myeon Township and have been considering to build a special museum for ancient metallurgy in order to bring the ironware skills of ancient Gaya to the broader world.

- Throughout its long history, Hapcheon has amassed many cultural heritage items. The county aims to attract 5 million tourists. Can you please tell us about your plans to achieve this goal?
Hapcheon has rich historical and natural resources, such as Haeinsa Temple, the printed woodblocks of the Tripitaka Koreana and Hwangmaesan and Gayasan mountains. Recently, many new tourist attractions have been developed, such as the Hapcheon Movie Park, known as one of the top outdoor studio filming locations in Korea, and the Hwanggang River, which is loved by rafters, kayakers and canoers. We have been considering many measures to make good use of such resources, in order to make Hapcheon the right place to relax your body and your mind.



- Recently, CNN selected the Royal Azalea Festival on Hwangmaesan Mountain and Haeinsa Temple as some of its “50 beautiful places to visit in Korea.” Can you tell us a bit about them?
It is impossible to talk about Hapcheon without mentioning Haeinsa Temple and the Tripitaka Koreana woodblocks, as these are some of the world’s most treasured artifacts. Haeinsa is one of the top three Buddhist temples in Korea. By some measures, it is the largest temple in the country, with about 70 national treasures there, including the UNESCO World Heritage items such as the Tripitaka Koreana and its depository.

The Hwangmaesan Royal Azalea Festival is one of the three most popular royal azalea festivals in the country. Every May, the festival showcases the mystic beauty of nature by creating a flower garden of deep pink all across the mountain side. The mountain is truly a stage for a luxurious spring festival. The wide open fields of grass and the mountain ridge is covered with flowers, creating a picturesque view. As such, in Yeongnam the mountain is quite often referred to as “Sogeumgang,” meaning, "a small Geumgangsan Mountain in the south of the country," as Hwangmaesan Mountain is just as beautiful as Geumgangsan Mountain, in the north. So, please come to Hapcheon to enjoy its clean and beautiful outdoors.

- Please tell us about the development of the joint tourism program with eight neighboring local government organizations.
The tourism industry is often called an industry without a chimney. Hapcheon meets all the conditions to develop the tourism industry, as it has beautiful nature, historic resources and various leisure & sports facilities. On March 3, eight local government bodies agreed to work together to develop the tourism industry in each area, a first of its kind in the country. Through the agreement, we decided to develop a tourism program, promote exchanges among residents and promote and carry out a joint marketing campaign. We will use tourist attractions that belong to the participating local organizations and create travel opportunities, like one-night-two-days or two-nights-three-days itineraries so that tourists can look around the area at their leisure. The development of such programs is expected to attract a large number of tourists.

- What effect will the Southern Inland High-speed Railroad have on Hapcheon, a long-cherished wish of many residents in the county?
Hapcheon is like an island surrounded by land. Its population was above 200,000 in the 1960s. Due to rapid urbanization, however, it dropped to around 50,000 today. The Southern Inland High-speed Railroad is a 171-kilometer rail line that will connect Gimcheon, in Gyeongsangbuk-do (North Gyeongsang Province), to Geoje, via Seongju, Goryeong in North Gyeongsang Province, us here in Hapcheon and then Jinju and Tongyeong in South Gyeongsang Province. The groundbreaking ceremony for the rail line was already held in 1966. It needs to be built now to achieve balanced development between regions.



- The Hapcheon Movie Park, in particular, plays a big role in spreading Korean mass media. What plans do you have for this outdoor studio?
The Hapcheon Movie Park exquisitely reproduces Seoul’s buildings and street scenes from the 1930s to the 1980s. This place is the largest outdoor studio in Korea for historical soap operas, with an annual visitor count of some 320,000. Many filmmakers and TV production crews prefer filming here. Last year, a total of 33 projects were shot here covering ten movies, including “C'est Si Bon” (2015), 12 soap operas and 3 commercials. Not only as a filming location, since 2013 the outdoor studio has been hosting a unique summer festival dubbed “Ghost Park,” where people can enjoy getting scared out of their wits during the warm summer nights. Once we complete the image and media center, finish the garden theme park and complete the scale model of Cheong Wa Dae, at 67 percent of the real building's size, I really hope this place can become the best comprehensive theme park in Korea.

- As we are now in an era of globalization, what exchanges does Hapcheon-gun County have with local governments overseas?
Hapcheon-gun County is a sister-city with Bergen County in New Jersey in the U.S., with Mitoyo in Kagawa Prefecture in Japan, and with Xinchang Xian in Zhejiang Province in mainland China. We send friendly delegations, especially to Japan, for local festivals there to widen each other's understanding. Every year, we conduct a home-stay program for middle school students from those three cities, offering youngsters an opportunity to experience a new environment and a new country.
With Bergen County, we signed an agreement to manage a language program for teenagers, too, so that about 20 students go there every year for summer school for two or three weeks to learn English and to broaden their horizons.

Article by Wi Tack-whan, Yoon Sojung
Photos: Jeon Han
Korea.net Staff Writers
whan23@korea.kr