Tag: Gangwon-do

The overtourism of Jeju Island must have gotten really bad in recent years for it to now drop below Gangwon-do as the most perferred domestic travel destination for South Koreans:

Korea’s southern resort island of Jeju is losing its luster as a leading travel spot for Koreans despite the post-pandemic recovery of domestic travel demand, a survey released Tuesday showed.

Instead, Gangwon Province on the eastern mountainous coast of the Korean Peninsula, known to offer similar travel purposes as Jeju, is emerging as a trending destination.

According to Consumer Insight’s monthly report Tuesday, Koreans’ interest in travel to Jeju Island stood at 29 percent in July, marking the lowest since the survey started in 2016.

“Interest” refers to the percentage of respondents who said their desire to visit a specific destination has grown compared to the year before.

After dropping 9 percentage points from 41 percent to 32 percent in May, the figure fell again by 4 percentage points from 33 percent to 29 percent from June to July. (…….)

However, the downward trend for Jeju is exceptional. Interest plunged by 18 percentage points between 2022 and 2023 and continued to fall from January to July this year from 41 percent to 29 percent.

The drop in Gangwon Province was relatively small, with decreasing by 12 percentage points from 55 percent to 43 percent during the same period.

Korea Times

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It is looking like some challenging driving conditions currently in Gangwon-do:

Around 10 vehicles were stranded for over a hour on a snow-covered road, with an estimated 100 traffic accidents reported, in the eastern mountainous province of Gangwon on Sunday, officials said.

Many parts of Gangwon Province had heavy snow from Saturday to Sunday, including 55.9 centimeters of snowfall in the Misiryeong mountain ridge and 52.3 cm of snow in the Hyangrobong hill. 

Heavy snow blanketed a section of highway in the coastal county of Goseong around noon, stranding about 10 vehicles in the area.

Drivers had struggled to steer their cars out of accumulated snow for about 1 1/2 hours before police, fire and military authorities removed snow. 

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like a perfect storm of events led to the massive wildfire in Gangwon province:

Authorities investigating the wildfires in Gangwon that started Thursday and burned at least 400 houses and 2 square miles of land suspect they began at three separate locations on Thursday.

The first spark came at around 2:45 p.m. on a hiking trail in Inje County. The fire spread quickly in strong winds with speeds up to 6.5 meters per second (14.5 miles per hour) and moved into residential areas. 

Around 95 residents in the area were evacuated. As firefighters fought the blaze near the residential areas, the fire burned through 30 hectares of forests before it was put out around noon on Saturday, according to the Korea Forest Service.

The cause of the spark on the hiking trail is being investigated.

“We have not ruled out the possibility of a fire caused by an accident,” said a police officer. 

The second spark in Gangwon on Thursday came at around 7:17 p.m. on an electric wire connected to a power switch at a gas station in Goseong County. 

The state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) said Friday that the fire seemed to have been sparked when “an alien substance” blown by the wind caught on an electric wire connected to a power switch. 

The fire that began from spark spread quickly due to the wind, blazing through 250 hectares of the county and Sokcho area before it was put out Friday afternoon. 

“We think it is likely that an alien substance, flying in strong winds, that hit the electric wire,” said Kim Chae-hyun, head of the Sokcho branch of Kepco. “Through this force, the wire could have been cut, causing the sparks to fly and catch fire in the vicinity.”

Authorities are investigating Kepco’s management of the electric poles and wires in the area.

In a similar case in the United States, Pacific Gas & Electric Company admitted that its equipment sparked the most destructive wildfire in California in November last year. The company filed for bankruptcy in January. 

The third spark in Gangwon on Thursday is suspected to have came around 11:46 p.m. in a small town in Gangneung. The fire blazed through Gangneung and Donghae, burning some 250 hectares of forests and land, before it was put out Friday afternoon. 

Police are investigating a temple in the town as the starting point of the fire. 

They found four altars at the temple, one of which was burned black, and candles on the altar. The temple is run by a man in his 80s who lives with his wife and daughter nearby.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

The good news is that one of the largest wildfires in South Korean history is now under control; the bad news is that one person lost their life and hundreds of homes and buildings were destroyed:

More than 400 homes and 920 livestock facilities were confirmed to have been burned in a devastating forest fire that raged through east coastal regions this past week, government data showed Sunday, as more damage has been discovered after the blaze was brought under control.
The fire, which started Thursday night in the county of Goseong, about 160 kilometers northeast of Seoul, spread quickly to neighboring cities and counties, reducing forests about 742 times the size of a soccer field to ashes.
One person was killed in the blaze, one of the biggest wildfires in South Korea.
According to the government’s anti-disaster office, the human casualties remain the same, but more property damage has been identified.
So far, a total of 401 homes, 925 livestock facilities, 77 warehouses and 100 buildings have been confirmed to have been burned. In addition, 241 agricultural machines and 15 cars were also lost in the fire, according to the office.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.