🔥korean towns are now fighting to GET a prison

for decades a prison was the definition of 혐오시설, the facility nobody wants near their house. now four places are basically campaigning for one. the ministry of justice is looking for sites for four new correctional facilities, 1,000 inmates and 250 permanent staff each, at least 192,000 square meters of land per site, 967.6 billion won total. and cheongsong, yeongdeok, jecheon and boeun are all in.

the reason is the same reason for almost everything in rural korea right now: people are leaving. 250 permanent jobs, their families, plus visitors and spending, is a lot for a county that's shrinking. cheongsong already hosts four correctional facilities and is pitching itself as a "correctional town" with 40+ years of experience. jecheon picked three finalist areas out of 16 applicants and a survey there found 61.7% of residents in favor. boeun had 16 villages apply and is promising 1 billion won to whichever village gets picked.

that's an actual signature campaign in the street with sashes and a banner, like it's an olympics bid. where i grew up people would protest a new bus depot. applications close oct 12 and the final sites get picked in december. i kind of want the "correctional town" pitch deck now