South Korea is currently facing the crisis of regional and rural extinction. The problem of aging in rural areas is particularly severe, with those aged 65 and older accounting for more than half of the farm household population. However, there is a completely different village in Yeonggwang, South Jeolla Province. Introducing itself as "South Korea's youngest village," "Seoro Village" has an average age of 27. Six years ago, a village church pastor bought an abandoned school and donated it to the village, after which young people began gathering one by one to fix up the school and build a village. Kim Woo-hyun, a 30-year-old village leader, is a final graduate of this school and is working hard to protect his hometown alongside other young people. The youth remodeled the closed school to create a cafe, a burger joint, and a woodworking shop, generating income. Word of mouth regarding a steady income, the new challenge of village-building, and the relaxing daily life unique to the countryside has begun drawing urban youths to move into the village and live there. The government also launched the "Youth Village Creation" project in 2018 to help young people settle down in regional areas. The project provides 600 million won over three years to selected youth villages, helping young people connect local people and resources to create new opportunities. So far, 61 locations have been selected as youth villages, and one of them is a village called "Zipdan-jiseong" located on Honggotong Street in Hongseong, South Chungcheong Province. Kim Man-i, 37, the head of Zipdan-jiseong who was born and raised in Seoul, moved down to Hongseong six years ago without any prior connections and began a unique challenge. Once the largest bustling district in Hongseong, the declining old downtown area of "Honggotong" is being transformed into a hub for local startups. Results are also emerging. Through Zipdan-jiseong, 20 teams have started businesses so far, allowing 30 people to settle down in Hongseong, and the vacancy rate of Honggotong, which once exceeded 40%, has dropped to 10%. Kim Man-i emphasized, "Local areas are a magical space where my efforts return with compound interest," adding that it is a land of opportunity where anyone with passion can take on challenges. Not only in Hongseong but across the country, many young people are embarking on a new experiment called "youth villages." Hwang Jong-gyu, a professor at Dongyang University who participated in the evaluation of the youth village project, stated that since this is an unprecedented policy, people should not rush to demand immediate tangible results. He emphasized that at a time when the majority of young people head to cities in search of better jobs and opportunities, we should instead support and encourage the challenges of youths who find possibilities in regional areas.

On this week's <News Story>, we listen to the stories of young people who remodeled a closed school to build a village and revived a declining downtown area into a startup base, while examining the conditions for the success of youth villages through them.