The Establishment of Local Identity Utilizing the Historical and Cultural Contents of King Sejong, Focused on Yeoju-si, Gyeonggi Province

Abstract

There might be nothing more important than local identity when discussing local development or local revitalization. Especially, as a case of Shakespeare (Stratford-on-Avon) clearly underpins this statement, a human resource makes up a very large portion of local resources. Accordingly, since the autonomous local government system was launched in the mid-1990s, each region has tried to discover historical figures based on locality and established regional identity through them while utilizing related resources in order to vitalize the region. King Sejong has overwhelmed other historical figures in Korea. That is because his accomplishment has influenced a variety of fields including Hangeul (the Korean alphabet), technology, leadership, and even music in our life. Therefore, the autonomous governments which are somewhat related to Sejong strive to utilize him as a cultural resource and in festivals and events on the grounds that he was born, or his tomb is located in their region, or the umbilical cords of his descendants were buried, or Sejong once visited their region to cure his disease, or the city name takes after his name. This article examines the relation between regional identity and historical figure as a theoretical background and then does how the autonomous governments involved with Sejong are using him as cultural contents. Henceforth, we will discuss how and what Yeoju-si, which can be said to have a strong relation with Sejong, should do to improve their region.