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Gimpo named Korea’s 2025 City of Books

Published: 12 Mar. 2025, 10:45 Updated: 12 Mar. 2025, 10:47

LEE JIAN
[email protected]

Children look at picture book author Lee Geum-yi's artwork during the 2024 Korea Reading Festival held in Pohang, North Gyeongsang, on Sept. 29, 2024. [NEWS1]

Gimpo will be officially designated as Korea’s 2025 City of Books during a ceremony in the city on Wednesday, presided over by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The ministry has awarded the title to a different city each year since 2014 to promote a national reading culture. Last year, it selected Pohang in North Gyeongsang.

In a press release on Wednesday, the ministry highlighted the Gyeonggi city's strong reading infrastructure, which includes seven municipal libraries. The city also hosts various book-related cultural events, such as book-sharing programs, monthly humanities lectures and its annual Library Book Festival.

As Korea’s 2025 City of Books, Gimpo will promote reading under the theme "Refresh with Books" and host the main event — the annual Korea Reading Festival — in September, in collaboration with publishers, bookstores and libraries nationwide.

The city and the ministry have also curated a range of book-related programs throughout the year, including evening reading sessions for families in June at Taesan Family Park and a lecture series at Gimpo’s municipal libraries featuring author-comedian Go Myung-hwan and humanities scholar Kim Heon, among others.

More details about the 2025 Korea Reading Festival and other book-related events in Gimpo can be found on the event’s official website: korearf.kpipa.or.kr.

BY LEE JIAN [[email protected]]