Yoon praises Mt. Seorak cable car project and pledges deregulations to boost tourism in Gangwon Province

President Yoon Seok-yeol speaks at the ninth \

President Yoon Suk-yeol visited Gangwon Province on March 11 and pledged to “construct more cable car systems where local residents want them,” referencing a new cable car project on Mount Seorak. He also vowed to drastically ease regulations on national forests in the province to install tourist trains. Yoon had previously announced a policy of drastically lifting development restriction zones (green belts). In the run-up to the general election next month, a series of deregulation and development policies have been announced, putting environmental values on the back burner.

"The construction of the cable car project on Mount Seorak, which had been a long-cherished dream of local residents for 40 years, began last year and vitalized the region’s mountain tourism,” Yoon said in a government-public debate held in the Gangwon provincial government building. "At the time of the presidential election, I pledged to install a cable car system on the mountain as the No. 1 campaign pledge in Gangwon Province, and I fulfilled that promise. If it is fully operational in 2026, it will attract more tourists to Mount Seorak and generate economic effects of more than 130 billion won to the local economy."

The new cable car project was stalled due to environmental damage and economic controversy, but accelerated under the Yoon administration. The Ministry of Environment, which had disagreed with the result of the environmental impact assessment in September 2019, changed its opinion to a conditional consent in February last year. A groundbreaking ceremony of the project was held in November that year and the installation of the cable car system, which had been delayed for more than 40 years since 1982 due to concerns about environmental damage, finally started.

“The government will significantly ease regulations to further utilize forest resources as tourism resources," Yoon said, adding, “We will also lift regulations on national forests included in the forest use promotion zone designated by Gangwon Province so that forest tourism trains and campsites can be installed there.”

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.