About 70 working-level officials from the APEC Food Security and Agriculture Ministers' Meeting were invited to Dandelion Theater Village in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, to participate in the "K-Rural Experience Fam Tour," which experiences the deep culture and warm emotions of Korean rural areas. The special event was co-hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (Minister Song Mi-ryeong) and the Korea Rural Community Corporation (President Kim In-joong) as part of the rich side program of the APEC Food Security and Agriculture Ministers' Meeting in 2025.
Dandelion Theater Village is Korea's first theater-specialized rural experience resort village, and it showed the unique charm of Korean rural areas through various experience programs such as Bongsan Mask Dance performances, plays, traditional liquor tasting, and traditional mask making. In addition, Korean summer agricultural products such as pork belly barbecue, watermelon, pine grapes, and steamed corn were provided to the participants, which became a place to convey the warmth of Korean rural areas beyond simple food.
This fam tour is meaningful in that it provided the working-level staff with the opportunity to experience the essence of Korean rural culture before the APEC Agricultural Ministers' Meeting. The working-level officials who participated in the event said, "The hospitality of Korean rural areas, rich traditional culture, and innovative efforts to revitalize rural areas were impressive."
In fact, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is continuously drawing foreign interest in rural tourism in Korea through the 'Expanding Foreign Tourists'. The number of foreign visitors is increasing every year from 17,000 in 2021 to 53,000 in 2022, 69,000 in 2023, and 116,000 in 2024, and is expected to reach about 139,000 this year. Amid the global interest in Korean Wave content, Korean dramas, and food, rural tourism is also establishing itself as a new cultural tourism product.
Park Sung-woo, director of the Rural Policy Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said, "By providing a place to directly experience the food, attractions and entertainment of Korean rural areas, we will be able to inform the world of the value and competitiveness of our rural areas and contribute to revitalizing rural tourism." He added, "First of all, we sincerely welcome the participants of the APEC meeting and hope that the rest of the meeting schedule will be completed successfully."
The 2025 APEC Food Security Ministerial Meeting will focus on food security issues around the world under the theme of 'Promoting Innovation in the Agri-Food System for Common Prosperity'. This K-rural fam tour is evaluated as a representative example of Korea leading the innovation and globalization of rural culture.
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