Dongducheon City in Gyeonggi Province is moving forward with its bid to be designated a "Peace Economy Special Zone" to overcome structural limitations of border regions and secure new growth engines.
According to Dongducheon City on the 10th, the city has served as a representative border city defending the front line of national security, providing 42% of its total area as land for U.S. Forces Korea over the past 75 years. However, prolonged military regulations and development restrictions have caused economic stagnation, leading to ongoing structural problems including population decline and urban growth stagnation.
The city is pursuing the special zone designation to transform its security-centered regional structure into a peace economy-centered growth structure.
The core of this initiative is to convert U.S. military-provided land into a complex economic hub combining industry, tourism, and peace exchanges. The symbolic significance is substantial, as it aims to reorganize border areas—once symbols of division—into spaces of peace and cooperation.
The special zone will be structured around three pillars. In the industrial sector, the city plans to attract advanced manufacturing centered on Dongducheon National Industrial Complex, developing it as an industrial hub for northern Seoul metropolitan area. For tourism, the city will create extended-stay tourist destinations with a wellness tourism belt centered on Soyosan Mountain and an international ice rink as key anchors. The strategy includes hosting international sports events to develop the area into a tourism and cultural hub for northern Gyeonggi Province.
Dongducheon Mayor Park Hyung-duk said, "Dongducheon has long sacrificed for national security, and now is the time for a national-level development strategy." He added, "We will actively pursue the Peace Economy Special Zone designation to overcome the limitations of border regions and leap forward as a future growth city."
Meanwhile, the city is making an all-out effort for the special zone designation, establishing development plans and continuing consultations with Gyeonggi Province and the central government.