- Plan to complete center at the Dalsan-po Beach in Taean by 2024, groundbreaking ceremony to be held on March 18th -



The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) will be holding the groundbreaking ceremony on 18th March (Friday) for Korea’s second Marine Healing Center at the Sports Leisure Town, located in Dalsan-po, Taean-gun of Chungcheong-namdo, in the presence of the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries MOON, Seong-Hyeok, member of the National Assembly Sung Il Jong, Governor of Chungnam Yang Seung-jo, and Mayor of Taean-gun Ka Se-ro.



‘Marine healing’ refers to a range of activities that help to promote national health, by improving the physical constitution of our bodies and enhancing our immunity, by using marine resources, such as the sea breeze, wave reverberations, seawater, tidal flats, sand, and marine organisms. The Marine Healing Center is a multicomplex facility that offers various marine healing programs.



Including the first site in Wando, Jeon-nam, on which construction started last year, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries plans to build a total of four Marine Healing Centers, including in Taean in Chung-nam, Uljin in Gyeong-buk, and Gosung in Gyeon-gnam. A total project investment of KRW 34 billion will be injected into the groundbreaking for the Taean Marine Healing Center, with the aim to complete a total floor area of 8,543m2 facility by 2024.



The center will house seawater pools, to help patients with musculoskeletal disorders walk and work out in the water, therapy and massage rooms to relieve pain and stress, and marine healing service facilities, such as peat rooms and salt rooms, which provide services based on the flagship marine resources of peat and salt in Taean. It will also include counseling rooms to provide advice on visitor health, as well as convenience facilities for the visitors, including cafes, convenience stores, and lounges.



More specifically, Dalsan-po Beach, which will host the center, is well-known for its beautiful scenery with a surrounding coastal pine (Pinus thunbergia) forest and white sandy beach covered with hard, carpet-like sand that does not easily give way when walked on, where diverse outdoor marine healing programs are planned to take place.



The Taean Marine Healing Center will be operated under a ‘leisure complex’ model, leveraging various marine leisure activities, including surfing and kayaking, and recreational infrastructure, such as the beach and resort facilities. With the advantage of being closely located to the central metropolitan area, the Center expects many visitors to come for the purpose of resting and healing.



To kick-start the development of marine healing industry to promote good health across the nation in the post-COVID19 era and as a new growth engine for the coastal regions, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries established the ‘Master Plan for the Management and Utilization of Marine Healing Resources (2022 ~ 2026) last December, and plans to roll-out implementation initiatives under the three strategies of ▲ Identifying marine healing content for all four seasons, ▲ Building infrastructure for marine healing services, and ▲ Establishing a marine healing industry ecosystem.



Minister MOON, Seong-Hyeok of Oceans and Fisheries commented, “I hope many visitors can come to Taean Marine Healing Center, which provides easy access from the central region, to experience joy and healing amidst the clean natural environment and marine resources of the western coast.” He also added, “we will continue our efforts to support the marine healing industry for it to invigorate the coastal regions and to become the flagship convergence industry of the future.”