Since opening in 2018, Wolasan Forest Pearl — Jinju’s flagship mixed forest retreat — has welcomed more than 2 million visitors, cementing its status as one of South Korea’s top forest and garden destinations.
The site blends a forest garden, a natural recreation forest, a woodlands area, a forest sports complex, a children’s forest library and a writers’ garden. Together these spaces offer locals and travelers a mix of rest, hands-on experiences and nature-based healing that keeps people coming back.
Lately, year-round festivals, interactive programs and immersive nighttime light displays have turned the park into more than a quick day trip. It’s evolving into a true “stay-and-soak-in-nature” destination where each season brings something new.
In April, Wolasan Forest Pearl was officially registered as a local garden, boosting its role as a symbolic hub in Jinju’s garden-culture strategy. With the 2026 Jinju Garden Expo and a hydrangea festival slated for June, officials expect even bigger crowds this season.
Last year’s hydrangea festival drew roughly 110,000 visitors and generated widespread buzz. Popular offerings include barefoot “earthing” walks, forest therapy sessions, woodworking workshops, guided nature talks and early-childhood forest education, plus special weekend activities that families love.
The city has also invested in visitor comfort: improved nighttime lighting and moonlight garden programming, upgraded trail maintenance and expanded rest areas. Recent steps include better night-time wayfinding, a larger garden footprint and new healing-forest zones to make visits more comfortable and varied.
Attendance has climbed steadily. After passing 1 million cumulative visitors in 2024, the site reached 1.5 million cumulatively and welcomed 500,000 visitors in 2025. On May 5 this year (Children’s Day), it hit the 2 million cumulative mark. Officials now project about 800,000 visitors for the year and expect total cumulative visits to exceed 2.5 million by year-end.
Jinju City plans to keep expanding programs that fuse garden culture with forest welfare so the facility remains a vibrant mixed-use retreat for residents and tourists alike.
A Jinju City official said, “Wolasan Forest Pearl’s growth to 2 million visitors is thanks to the interest and support of our community. We’ll keep building on the local garden designation to make this a premier destination in Korea where garden culture and forest recreation meet.”
Jinju turns up the heat on youth culture with its Youth 365 Hotplace initiative
Selected through a Gyeongsangnam-do competition, Jinju’s Youth 365 Hotplace project is creating cultural hubs and staging events designed to give young people a visible presence in the city’s cultural life.
Jinju City said it successfully hosted youth-focused events on May 8 and 9 at the outdoor stage in Doraesaemi Park (Hadae-dong) and on Bollaero Street (Gajwa-dong).
The goal was simple: let young people lead cultural activities and create casual, city-center spaces where they can meet and connect.
On May 8, the HOT Hadae program at Doraesaemi Park offered a mix of classical, jazz and choral performances, turning the park into a lively cultural hangout for young artists and residents alike.
On May 9, the Jinju Youth College Music Contest on Bollaero Street featured student competitions, band sets and talk concerts — a showcase of local talent and youthful energy.
Singer Lee Sang‑mi joined a talk concert themed “Support for youth shaken before they begin,” connecting with young attendees and offering an encouraging performance. Guest acts Episode and December DK helped keep the crowd buzzing.
A Jinju official said, “These events let young people take the lead in culture and provided a foundation for exchange. We’ll keep rolling out programs that reflect what youth want.”
Recruiting participants for youth matchmaking event Some Day Jinju
Jinju City is accepting applications from May 11–22 for the 23rd Some Day Jinju matchmaking event for unmarried men and women living or working in Jinju.
The overnight program runs June 12–13 at Wolasan Forest Pearl. It’s designed to give singles preparing for marriage a relaxed setting in nature to meet and get to know one another.
Activities include forest-date experiences, rotating 1:1 matching talks and group workshops to spark natural connections. Based on feedback from last year, organizers added a networking dinner on the final night. There are also planned follow-up events linked to local attractions such as the Jinju Garden Expo, Jinju Castle, the Namgang Floating Lantern Exhibition Hall and the Jinju K‑Entrepreneurship Center to encourage ongoing contact among participants.
The program has produced 15 married couples so far, and since 2021 it has generated at least one marriage every year. To support new beginnings, the city awards couples who tie the knot after meeting through the program a wedding congratulations grant of ₩1,000,000 (about $750 USD).
Eligibility: unmarried men and women ages 31–39 (born 1987–1995) who live in Jinju or work in Jinju or Sacheon.
Applicants should submit required documents (detailed marriage-certificate extract, resident-registration abstract, employment certificate) via Jinju’s youth online platform. Successful applicants will be notified individually by text message on the 30th.
For more details, visit Jinju’s youth online platform or the Jinju City website, or contact the Jinju Population and Youth Policy Office.
A Jinju official said, “We hope this event becomes more than a brief meet-and-greet — we want it to be a space for natural conversation and genuine connection. We’ll continue to pursue policies that help young people build relationships and put down roots in the region.”
