Sokcho, Gangneung, Wonju and Yanggu-gun have been named the top four cities and counties in Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province for deregulation efforts.
Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province announced Monday that Sokcho took the grand prize at the "2026 Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province Deregulation Excellence Competition," held recently, recognized for resolving a 35-year military height restriction tied to a communications facility in the Jangsa and Yeongnanho areas.
Gangneung and Wonju shared the excellence award, while Yanggu-gun swept both encouragement prizes.
Yeo Jung-hyeop, administrative vice governor of Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, said deregulation is "a task that is difficult to produce results in a short period of time," adding that the province would widely share the winning cases and continue pursuing deregulation policies that residents can feel in their daily lives.
The Jangsa and Yeongnanho areas in northern Sokcho have been subject to a military facility protection zone centered on a military communications facility in Yongchon-ri, Goseong-gun since 1991, restricting new construction, building extensions, renovation of aging homes and various development projects. Residents had long called for relief, as the restrictions hampered their property rights and efforts to improve living conditions.
Sokcho had explored a range of approaches — relocating the military unit, revising related laws and incorporating special provisions into the Gangwon Special Act — but each ran into practical barriers. Relocating the unit would require enormous fiscal resources, while statutory revisions and special exemptions raised concerns about their impact on military facilities nationwide and fairness across regions.
The city then shifted its approach, pursuing a solution focused not on moving the unit but on rationally adjusting the protection zone itself to the extent that military operations would not be affected. It gathered residents' opinions, secured an on-site inspection by Ministry of National Defense officials, coordinated with Goseong-gun and held consultations with lawmakers, the military and other relevant agencies to develop a concrete plan.
As a result, the Defense Ministry officially lifted the protection zone designation on July 22, fully removing the height restriction that had applied to 1.887 square kilometers of the Jangsa and Yeongnanho areas for 35 years.
The reform was widely praised for offering a practical alternative that addressed residents' hardships while preserving national defense objectives — without requiring a costly unit relocation or complex legislative changes. It was particularly recognized as a case of collaborative regulatory innovation, bringing together residents, Sokcho, Goseong-gun, the local assembly, the National Assembly, central government ministries and the military across institutional and regional lines.
Sokcho Mayor Lee Byeong-seon said the award "is all the more meaningful because it is the fruit of regulatory innovation created with one heart by residents and the community who endured inconvenience and sacrifice for 35 years." He added that the city would continue actively identifying and reforming unreasonable regulations that stand in the way of residents' lives, having shown that "regulations once thought impossible can be resolved through a shift in thinking and persistent communication."
Gangneung had previously been unable to build underground road structures such as underpasses within a flight safety zone due to concerns about interference with military operations. Through consultations with the Defense Ministry, the city secured approval to adjust the route and construct an underpass in conjunction with improvements to military facilities.
Wonju was recognized for easing regulatory burdens on businesses by amending its municipal ordinance to relax parking facility requirements for data centers.
Yanggu-gun's two encouragement prizes recognized separate achievements: converting a flight safety zone in Andae-ri to a delegated zone, allowing the county to handle permits directly without separate consultations with the military — previously required even for minor development — and relaxing regulations around cultural heritage sites to protect residents' property rights and promote the local economy.
The competition was established to identify and recognize outstanding deregulation cases from across the province with high effectiveness and potential for broader adoption, and to spread results nationwide through friendly competition among the province and its cities and counties.
The province conducted an initial round of written screening to select 10 cases for presentation, then held a second round of presentation-based judging Monday to determine the final rankings.
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