By Ko Dong-hwan
The
official promotional poster for the DMZ Peace Land Music Festival in Incheon / Courtesy of Incheon Metropolitan City
The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) at the inter-Korean border region in Incheon will host a music festival in September with support from the central government and city government.
DMZ Peace Land Music Festival in Ganghwa is scheduled to take place on Sept. 16 and 17 at Hwagye Garden on Gyodong Island near the maritime border between South and North Korea.
North Korean waters are less than 300 meters away from Mount Bammeori on Gyodong Island's northern coast, the location closest to the border on the island. Yeonpyeong Island in waters off Incheon, where the two Koreas were involved in an artillery engagement in November 2010, is some 45 kilometers west of the island.
The two-day event features Harmonize, a 22-member-show choir and the country's A-list solo artists, including Jang Min-ho, Ailee, Na Tae-joo, Eun Gaeun and K-pop bands Oh My Girl and ONF. The line-up of artists caters to visitors of a broad range of age groups, the Tourism and MICE Division, which sits under the Incheon city government's Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, said, Monday.
Some 10,000 visitors are expected to flock to the island during the event, the city authority said. Alongside hosting the concert, the city government aims to promote Gyodong Island as the city's tourism hotspot that symbolizes inter-Korean peace. The authority plans to add fun to the festival by showcasing the island's local products and offering various hands-on activities.
Organized by the Incheon Tourism Organization, the event is jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Korea Tourism Organization and Ganghwa County Office.
A hiking program during the event offers participants a chance to explore the island on foot and clean up the area at the same time. A participation fee of 15,000 won ($11.00) is required per booking at www.dmzinganghwa.kr but the expense includes a free meal and a gift certificate usable at Daeryong Market. Reservations must be made before Sept. 2.
Kim Choong-jin, head of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, said the upcoming festival will hopefully promote the island as Incheon's tourism hotspot familiarizing visitors with the DMZ. He added that maintaining security around the island during the events is another primary objective for the city government.
Incheon city government was selected as the ideal city for the event by the culture ministry last March. The city was granted a 700 million won budget from the central government.
The main events are preceded by three busking performances.
One of them was held on Saturday at an observatory on the northern coast of Ganghwa Island, less than 800 meters away from the inter-Korean maritime border. The two following busking shows are on this Saturday and next Saturday and will be held at Hwagye Market. Together with the main events next month, the authority called the festival "a music relay under the themes of love, ecology, art and peace."
