Donghae Mayor Lee Jeong-hak personally stepped out Wednesday afternoon to welcome Chuseok homecomers, serving as honorary stationmaster at Donghae Station for the day.
Earlier that morning, Lee visited the Bukpyeong Folk Five-Day Market — held on days ending in 3 or 8 — alongside city employees. He chatted with residents who had come out to buy ritual offerings for the holiday, and listened to vendors' concerns while purchasing goods from their stalls.
As honorary stationmaster, Lee received a briefing on the station's key facilities, rail operations and pending issues, and took part in stationmaster duties and passenger assistance. He then stood at the station entrance to personally welcome homecomers and tourists arriving from Seoul, Yeongju and other cities, leaving visitors with a warm first impression of Donghae.
"Donghae Station is the gateway where people first encounter our city, and an important starting point connecting tourism and the local economy," Lee said. "We will actively seek out projects that link rail, tourism and local commerce so that visitors arrive by train, stay longer and want to come back."
Meanwhile, Donghae is pursuing a range of rail-tourism projects aimed at channeling growth in train ridership into broader tourism activity across the city.
The city offers tourism incentives to visitors who arrive by KTX-Eum and other trains, and is expanding a stay-based tourism infrastructure designed to bring real economic benefit to local restaurants, traditional markets and accommodation businesses.
Donghae plans to develop curated travel itineraries using the increasingly popular Mukho Station in the north and the centrally located Donghae Station in the south as twin starting points, connecting visitors to major attractions including Mukho Port, Dojjebi-gol, Chuam and the Mureung area.
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