INCHEON — Incheon, the starting point of Korea's official emigration history, will become home to an education and cultural complex serving 7 million ethnic Koreans living abroad.
The city government and the Overseas Koreans Agency signed a memorandum of understanding on the project at the Incheon Metropolitan City Museum on the 22nd, the city said on the 23rd. The plan calls for rebuilding the museum, located in the Songdo International Business District, into a focal point linking the global Korean diaspora network.
The center carries symbolic weight as the first memorial and education complex dedicated to overseas Koreans to be pursued at the central government level in the roughly 160-year history of Korean emigration. With no systematic national space for preserving that history until now, the project marks a turning point by consolidating historical artifacts at risk of being lost and building a digital archive.
The center will also serve as a base for homeland training programs aimed at instilling a sense of Korean identity in younger generations of the diaspora. It will operate as a residential facility hosting more than 3,000 young people and Korean-language school teachers each year for instruction in the Korean language, culture and history. It will also run regular cultural events and academic programs involving more than 50,000 Incheon residents and other people living in Korea, creating an open space for exchange that narrows the distance between Koreans at home and abroad.
The economic and personal networks the center is expected to generate also stand out. The secretariats of major organizations, including the Convention of Overseas Korean Associations, the World Korean Business Convention and the Global Korean Dream Foundation, will be housed inside. With an official business channel in Korea for ongoing exchange among Korean leaders and Korean business owners worldwide, the project is expected to produce economic effects such as attracting international Korean events drawing 4,000 people a year and connecting domestic companies to overseas markets.
Remodeling work is set to begin in 2027. Incheon will provide administrative support, including permits and approvals, while the Overseas Koreans Agency will handle securing state funding, construction and future operation and management.
"Incheon, which has shared more than 120 years of emigration history, is a warm home where Koreans from around the world return," Incheon Mayor Park Chan-dae said. "Through close cooperation with the Overseas Koreans Agency, we will open the era of overseas Koreans in Incheon and strengthen the city's standing as a global hub."