Comprehensive Festival Held to Spread Ecological and Peace Values Until November

Contributing to the Cultural Development of Gyeonggi-do's Northern Border Region Beyond the Fusion of Fields

This year's DMZ OPEN Festival will be held from May to November.

On the 1st, the Gyeonggi-do Northern Provincial Office announced that this year's DMZ OPEN Festival will be co-chaired by Gyeonggi-do Governor Kim Dong-yeon and renowned ecologist Choi Jae-cheon, honorary professor at Ewha Womans University, with Professor Im Mi-jeong of Hansei University appointed as the general director to lead the event.

[Image: DMZ OPEN Festival event]

The festival, which will be held for over seven months in northern Gyeonggi-do and the DMZ area, consists of art events such as the International Music Festival, Peace Concert, and exhibitions, as well as academic events such as the Eco Peace Forum, special lectures, and policy contests. It will also be held as a comprehensive festival including sports events such as peace walks and marathons.

In particular, this year, exhibitions featuring opportunity-income artists in conjunction with the second opening of Camp Greaves in the second half of the year, the Gyeonggi-do Sports Festival, and the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival will also be held. In addition, eco-friendly events such as the production of shopping bags through recycling discarded banners, applying the RE100 concept, will be promoted.

Furthermore, to actively attract domestic and foreign tourists, there will be peace tourism content linked to performances and exhibitions, such as street performances (busking) by North Korean defectors at the South-North Joint Liaison Office and the DMZ Peace Train operating to Dorasan Station.

Detailed schedules and plans for this year's DMZ OPEN Festival will be announced on the website (www.dmzopen.kr) during the first half of the year.

Jo Chang-beom, Director of the Peace Cooperation Bureau of Gyeonggi-do, said, "The DMZ is transforming into a daily space where ecological, peaceful, and historical values are highlighted. We will carefully prepare various programs so that the tourist resources of the DMZ area, linked with the DMZ OPEN Festival, can become a tourist destination visited by people all over the world."

Meanwhile, a total of 1.64 million people participated in the 2023 DMZ OPEN Festival, which was held online and offline from May to November last year.

Source: Uijeongbu = Newsis Choi Hwan-geum reporter

atbodo@newspim.com