Gwangyang City Discusses Regional Win-Win Cooperation with Seoul National University Southern Academic Forest

Exploring Ways to Connect Regional Resources in Forestry, Ecology, Education, and Research
Explaining the Need to Establish a National Industrial Medicine Medical Cluster

Gwangyang City, Jeonnam Gwangju Integrated Special City, announced on the 31st that it held a meeting with key officials from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Seoul National University at the Seoul National University Southern Campus Gwangyang Office on the 29th to discuss ways to expand win-win cooperation with the Southern Campus.

The meeting was attended by Gwangyang Mayor Park Sunghyun, Dean Kang Byeongcheol of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Seoul National University, as well as the associate dean, the head of the academic forest, the head of the Southern Academic Forest, and other officials from both institutions. They shared information on the main functions and current status of the Seoul National University Southern Academic Forest and exchanged views on ways to link forestry, ecology, education, and research resources to the local community.

Gwangyang City held a meeting at the Seoul National University Southern Academic Forest Gwangyang Office with key officials from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Seoul National University to discuss plans for expanding mutually beneficial cooperation with the Southern Academic Forest. Provided by Gwangyang City

The Seoul National University Southern Academic Forest is a field-based research and education facility located in Gwangyang City and Gurye County. It plays a role in forest science research, student training, forest ecosystem conservation, and professional education. Gwangyang City plans to continuously discover collaborative projects in forest education, ecology, and healing, which can be felt by citizens by linking the research and educational capabilities of the Southern Academic Forest with the excellent ecological resources in the Baegunsan region.

Additionally, Mayor Park Sunghyun explained the background and national importance of the "Seoul National University Hospital Industrial Medicine and Rehabilitation Integrated National Medical Cluster," a core pledge of the 9th popularly elected administration, and requested interest and cooperation.

The city’s vision for this project goes beyond simply expanding local medical facilities. It aims to be a national project in which the government comprehensively carries out industrial medicine research, clinical care, and rehabilitation, aligned with the current administration’s policies on balanced national development and reducing regional gaps in medical care.

Gwangyang City, with its ideal conditions—home to integrated steel, port, logistics, energy, and advanced materials industries centered around the Gwangyang Steel Plant and Gwangyang Port—plans to study each sector’s work environments and health impacts, and field-apply prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation models for occupational diseases. The city’s goal is to establish a national industrial medicine specialization hub in Gwangyang based on fieldwork in steel, port, and logistics, as well as with major national key industries including petrochemicals in Yeosu, shipbuilding in Daebul, Yeongam, and aviation in Sacheon, to develop models for prevention, research, care, rehabilitation, and return to work for industrial diseases.

Going forward, the city will refine the key functions, scale, operating direction, and location feasibility of the medical cluster, seek expert advice, and proceed with step-by-step consultations with Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, central government ministries, and related agencies to have the project adopted as a national initiative.

Park Sunghyun, Mayor of Gwangyang City, stated, "Balanced national development is only truly possible when people in all regions can access high-quality medical services," adding, "This project is not only for the medical needs of Gwangyang Bay but also a national effort to ensure the health and lives of workers who support our industries."

He continued, "Gwangyang has long-standing cooperative foundations with the Seoul National University Southern Academic Forest. We will broaden areas of collaboration so that the Southern Academic Forest’s excellent research and educational capabilities can make a tangible difference in regional development and citizens’ lives, and we will steadily prepare to advance Gwangyang, the industrial capital of Korea, into a national industrial medicine hub based on real-world work sites."

Gwangyang City stated that, based on this meeting, it will establish an ongoing consultative system with the Southern Academic Forest, and concretize collaborative tasks in areas such as forest education, ecological research, forest welfare, and healing—fields where the local community can truly feel the benefits.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.