by Tey-Marie Astudillo, Frances Cha
The city of Suncheon in the South Jeolla province is planning to build a second German Village in Korea beginning next year.
Unlike the first German Village, located on a mountain by the southern sea, the new village will be built in the middle of the city on a 248,000-square-meter plot, 80 percent of which was donated by the former Minister of Health and Welfare Kim Hwa-joong, who is also heading the project.
The other 20 percent is being provided by the city of Suncheon.
The context for both villages is to invite back and provide subsidies for Korean miners and nurses who were sent to Germany by the government in return for financial aid during some of Korea’s poorest years in the 1960s and 1970s.
“Thousands of workers went to Germany during that time,” says Kim, who was first inspired to build a second German Village when she visited Germany in 2007 during her term in the Ministry.
read more