Transforming Chuncheon: How the New Plaza Library Will Revolutionize Community Learning by 2030

Translation result. Yuk Dong-han, a candidate for Chuncheon mayor, pledged to transform Chuncheon into “a city where books flow and people flourish.”

In a May 3 press release, Yuk said he would upgrade the North Public Library—which the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism recently judged “appropriate” in a preliminary feasibility review—into a Chuncheon-style “Plaza Library” and reorganize the city’s library network into neighborhood hubs focused on education, artificial intelligence, and caregiving.

He said he will complete the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s local finance investment review, secure the city council’s approval of the shared-property management plan, and obtain provincial funding in the second half of this year. He emphasized that the long-awaited North Public Library in the northern district will not be a mere reading room but a Chuncheon-style Plaza Library built on a threefold concept: a library set in a park, a plaza-style book market, and a wooden multiuse cultural center.

Yuk also said he plans to introduce the spirit of the Little Free Library—a citizen-run book-sharing model operating at roughly 150,000 sites across about 120 countries—to Korea. He would establish a “Book Market” on the library’s ground-floor plaza and rooftop garden where residents can donate books and anyone may take or swap them.

Noting that Chuncheon is designated a timber-industry cluster city by the Korea Forest Service, he said he aims to make the North Public Library the first public building to apply Gangwon-sawn timber.

He pledged to link roughly 40 libraries across Chuncheon—large and small—and reorganize them into an integrated network of three hubs for education, AI, and caregiving. He also pledged to expand the Chuncheon-style Great Books program through this library network so that students from early elementary school through high school can access free, life-stage programs for reading and discussing classic works.

Meanwhile, the North Public Library is planned for the site at 454-1 Udu-dong with a total budget of 32.2 billion KRW (about $24.15 million). The facility will include one basement level and three aboveground floors, totaling roughly 5,000 square meters (about 53,820 sq ft), and is scheduled to open in 2030.