“Southeastern forest-welfare hub sets sail” ... National Gimhae Forest Experience Center to open on the 14th

[Financial News] The National Gimhae Forest Experience Center, the largest national forest-welfare facility in South Gyeongsang Province, will open in Sangdong-myeon, Gimhae City, South Gyeongsang Province, and begin providing services to the public.
 The Korea Forest Welfare Institute, under the Korea Forest Service (KFS), said on the 11th that it will hold an opening ceremony on the 14th at the National Gimhae Forest Experience Center’s lawn plaza, with around 200 people attending, including local residents and officials from related organizations. The ceremony will feature a report on the project’s progress, a commemorative tree planting and an unveiling ceremony, followed by a range of events, including “Our Forest Festa,” a performance in the forest by a municipal choir and a youth fusion traditional music ensemble.
 Built on 178 hectares of state-owned forest with 27 billion won in Green Fund money, the Gimhae Forest Experience Center completed construction and preparations for operation between 2022 and last year. Its main facilities include a visitor center, an education building, an auditorium accommodating 130 people, a dining hall and lodging buildings, for a total of 18 buildings. The accommodations comprise 54 rooms in all—44 double rooms and 10 four-person rooms—and can host up to 128 people, serving a wide range of visitors, from families to corporate and group trainees. The entire facility features barrier-free design, with thresholds removed, so people with disabilities who use wheelchairs and others with mobility limitations can use it without difficulty. Drawing on its dense hinoki cypress and oriental cork oak forests, the center will also offer specialized experiences, including life-stage forest-therapy programs tailored to everyone from young children to older adults: “A Step in the Forest,” “Hinoki Kapla” and “Upcycle Forest.” Reservations can be made through the integrated forest-welfare platform “Soop e-rang.”
 The Gimhae Forest Experience Center is expected to significantly improve access to forest-welfare services for residents of the southeastern metropolitan region encompassing Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province. Until now, there had been no national forest experience center in the South Gyeongsang region, forcing local residents to travel elsewhere to use forest-therapy services. Thanks to its location near the Namhae Expressway and the Sangdong Interchange on the Jungang Expressway, the center is expected to establish itself as a leading urban-fringe healing hub serving around 8 million residents of cities and provinces across the southeast.
 Kim Jong-nam, president of the Korea Forest Welfare Institute, said, “I hope everyone in the country can receive high-quality national forest-welfare services wherever they are,” adding, “We will continue to do our utmost to ensure that national forest-welfare facilities nationwide communicate closely with local communities and that everyone can enjoy healing and rest in the forest.”
[email protected] Kim Won-jun Reporter