Welcome

Everyone wants to live in a global city,
a city that wants to be friends

We warmly welcome you to the Gwangju City homepage, dedicated to Gwangju, northeast Asia's cultural hub city, and high-tech industrial city, in South Korea.

In this 21st century, the world is a global village, which speaks, hears and feels through culture. And it is cutting-edge technology that allows this information to flow across the world: city to city, person to person.

Gwangju is also South Korea's representative cultural city, where arts and crafts have bloomed since ancient days. Based on these cultural traditions and heritage, the Gwangju Biennale is held every 2 years, where Asian and contemporary art combine.

As part of the ambition to make Gwangju a World Cultural City, the Asian Culture Center is under due for completion in 2013, which will showcase Asian culture to the world.

Gwangju's other cultural heritage is of democracy, peace and human rights, born from the 18th May (5.18) 1980 Democratic Uprising in the city. In a time of national crisis, the spirit of Gwangju's 5.18 Democratic Uprising brought democracy into South Korea, and made a large impact throughout Asia, so through Gwangju the light of democracy, human rights and peace can shine across the world.

Gwangju is striving to foster and develop its culture-related industries, and to evolve as an Asian Culture Hub city, through the development of cultural-tourism products, and the promotion of flagship events such as the Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju Kimchi Festival and Gwangju High-tech Expo.

Through introducing Gwangju's incomparable cultural products and contents globally, Gwangju will become known as a model city, in Korea, and also internationally.

Gwangju will foster and develop five main industries, namely car-manufacture, electronics, lighting and LEDs, cultural items, and green energy, as well as focus on the areas of high-technology, battery cells, and health-care as future growth engines.

Gwangju is also rapidly developing its R&D zone, which features both research and production, and is developing a high-tech LED industrial complex open for international cooperation.

Gwangju is hosting the 2015 Summer Universiade Games, to be attended by university students from over 170 countries. The city will use this as an opportunity to develop current youngsters, with a view to producing future leaders for the next 100 years. Gwangju hopes to become a city that anyone in the world wants to live in, and its people want to be your friend.

We hope you have the opportunity to experience Gwangju firsthand, and have a strong interest and affection for our city.

Thank you.

Mayor Gwangju Metropolitan City, Kang Un-Tae

• Major Office Website : http://www.gwangju.go.kr/gjmayor/main.jsp [Korean]

• Division : Marketing Planning Division of the City Marketing Headquarters
• Contact : +82-62 -613-3075