{"id":309216,"date":"2026-10-18T09:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T09:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/309216\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T09:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T09:30:14","slug":"namyangju-mayor-choi-hyundeok-toward-koreas-leading-reading-city-for-books-and-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/309216\/","title":{"rendered":"Namyangju Mayor Choi Hyundeok: &#8220;Toward Korea&#8217;s Leading Reading City for Books and Culture&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n      &#8220;2026 Book Festa&#8221; at Dasan Cultural Park<br \/>Preparations ramp up for next year&#8217;s Korea Reading Festival\n    <\/p>\n<p>Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, has wrapped up its citizen-participation reading festival, \u201c2026 Book Festa,\u201d and is preparing to host next year\u2019s Korea Reading Festival.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiae.co.kr\/news\/img_view.htm?img=2026101817473964726_1792313259.jpg\" class=\"img_link\" title=\"Namyangju Mayor Choi Hyun-deok greets citizens at the 2026 Book Festa on the 17th. Provided by Namyangju City.\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/2026101817473964726_1792313259.jpg\" alt=\"Namyangju Mayor Choi Hyun-deok greets citizens at the 2026 Book Festa on the 17th. Provided by Namyangju City.\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"txt\">Namyangju Mayor Choi Hyun-deok greets citizens at the 2026 Book Festa on the 17th. Provided by Namyangju City.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiae.co.kr\/news\/img_view.htm?img=2026101817473964726_1792313259.jpg\" class=\"img_figure\" title=\"Namyangju Mayor Choi Hyun-deok greets citizens at the 2026 Book Festa on the 17th. Provided by Namyangju City.\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\tView original image<br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Namyangju City, led by Mayor Choi Hyundeok, said on October 18 that it held Book Festa for three days, from October 15 to 17, at Dasan Cultural Park in front of Jeong Yak-yong Library under the theme \u201cOpen a Book for a Picnic, Walk Through a Book Market.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The festival featured a \u201cBook Picnic\u201d area where visitors could relax and read outdoors. On the final day, October 17, local bookstores and independent publishing creators took part in a \u201cBook Market,\u201d introducing a variety of books to residents.<\/p>\n<p>Hands-on programs centered on books were also held, including \u201cA Book for Today,\u201d \u201cRead with Fragrance, Leave a Mark in Color,\u201d \u201cCapture Your Reading Taste,\u201d and a stamp tour. Programs for families included outdoor movie screenings, bubble and balloon performances, and a cotton candy magic show. A talk by author Jeong Munjeong, Book Forest Busking, and a jazz concert brought the festival to a close on the final day.<\/p>\n<p>Choi Hyundeok, mayor of Namyangju, visited the festival on October 17, toured the Book Market and activity areas, spoke with residents, and encouraged event staff.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBooks are precious links that connect one generation to another and bring people together,\u201d Choi said. \u201cI hope this Book Festa gave residents a meaningful opportunity to discover the joy of reading in their daily lives and share culture with their families and neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiae.co.kr\/news\/img_view.htm?img=2026101817483164728_1792313311.jpg\" class=\"img_link\" title=\"Mayor Choi Hyeondeok listens to an explanation at a booth at Book Festa. Provided by Namyangju City.\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/2026101817483164728_1792313311.jpg\" alt=\"Mayor Choi Hyeondeok listens to an explanation at a booth at Book Festa. Provided by Namyangju City.\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"txt\">Mayor Choi Hyeondeok listens to an explanation at a booth at Book Festa. Provided by Namyangju City.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiae.co.kr\/news\/img_view.htm?img=2026101817483164728_1792313311.jpg\" class=\"img_figure\" title=\"Mayor Choi Hyeondeok listens to an explanation at a booth at Book Festa. Provided by Namyangju City.\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\tView original image<br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>He added, \u201cWe will expand a range of reading and cultural programs so everyone can enjoy books and culture close to home, and make Namyangju a leading reading culture city in Korea by successfully hosting the 2027 Korea Reading Festival.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>      Hot Picks Today<br \/>\n      <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asiae.co.kr\/en\/article\/2026101613092366405\" title=\"&quot;Let&#039;s Hit It Big in Korea&quot;... Foreigners Flock to &#039;This Place&#039; [Weekend Money]\" class=\"thumb\" onclick=\"gtag( &#039;event&#039;, &#039;click&#039;, { &#039;event_category&#039; : &#039;V_\uc8fc\uc694\ub274\uc2a4&#039;, &#039;event_label&#039; : &#039;1\uc2ac\ub86f&#039; });\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/2026101613053663640_1792123535.jpg\" alt=\"&quot;Let's Hit It Big in Korea&quot;... Foreigners Flock to 'This Place' [Weekend Money]\"\/><br \/>\n        &#8220;Let&#8217;s Hit It Big in Korea&#8221;&#8230; Foreigners Flock to &#8216;This Place&#8217; [Weekend Money]<br \/>\n      <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Namyangju City, selected to host the 2027 Korea Reading Festival, plans to draw more residents into the event and expand cooperation with local bookstores and the publishing industry, building on its experience organizing local reading festivals.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation  services.<\/p>\n<p class=\"txt_prohibition\">\u00a9 The Asia Business Daily. All rights reserved. Unauthorized AI training and use prohibited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#8220;2026 Book Festa&#8221; at Dasan Cultural ParkPreparations ramp up for next year&#8217;s Korea Reading Festival Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[35492,15122,79563,139,19614,50,128,130,129,30657,13592,79562],"class_list":["post-309216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-economic","tag-issue","tag-korea","tag-news","tag-newspaper","tag-politics","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-society","tag-south-korea","tag-the-asia-business-daily"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}