Asia's Largest Paramount Theme Park to Open at Hwaseong International Theme Park

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Kim Gap-dong·Lee Soo-won] Asia's largest theme park utilizing the brand of Paramount, a world-renowned entertainment company and holder of global content intellectual property, will be established at the Hwaseong International Theme Park being developed by private sector in western Gyeonggi Province.

On the 10th, Gyeonggi Province held the "Hwaseong International Theme Park Global Brand Recruitment Announcement Ceremony" at Hwaseong City Hall and officially announced that Paramount has been selected as the global brand partner for the Hwaseong International Theme Park.

The event was attended by Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon, Hwaseong Mayor Jeong Myeong-geun, Shinsegae Property CEO Im Young-rok, Paramount Entertainment Division Head Marie Marks, and others who pledged cooperation.

Governor Kim Dong-yeon said, "I want to establish Everland in the east and a theme park in the west as the center of Gyeonggi Province's cultural industry," and "Through this project, if tourism programs are developed in connection with the West Coast, it will become an international landmark as well as a domestic one. We have resolved a 17-year thirst with this," he said. He added, "In February last year, we announced a major Western Gyeonggi SOC development vision with 14 trillion won budgeted through 2040, including infrastructure such as roads and railways. Hwaseong City is the most important central axis in western development. The creation of the theme park will drive successful large-scale development. We will actively support it together with Hwaseong City."

Hwaseong Mayor Jeong Myeong-geun said, "We welcome the recruitment of Paramount, the finest film production and distribution company that brings joy and catharsis to people around the world through great films such as Mission Impossible, Forrest Gump, and Transformers," and "We will make Hwaseong a representative cultural hub of South Korea and a tourist destination visited by people around the world."

Shinsegae Group CEO Im Young-rok said, "This theme park utilizing the Paramount brand is not simply an amusement park, but a space where customers can experience the characters and stories they imagined in media in reality, enjoying unique pleasures, inspiration, and healing," and "Together with Paramount, which has a wide range of entertainment content enjoyed by both children and adults, we will present a new theme park unprecedented before."

Paramount Entertainment Division Head Marie Marks said, "Starbay City is an excellent location accessible to both domestic and international visitors, a spacious site where diverse attractions can be introduced, and an optimal place for theme park development with nearby tourist resources," and "In cooperation with Shinsegae, which has the ability to create spatial value, we will create a theme park recognized worldwide."

With Paramount selected as the global partner, Shinsegae Hwaseong plans to develop the theme park by introducing brands and characters owned by Paramount.

Paramount is a world-class content distribution company and one of the five major studios in Hollywood, with numerous channels including Paramount Pictures, broadcasting company CBS, children's-focused cable channel Nickelodeon, and music-focused cable channel MTV, making it a mega media conglomerate.

The Hwaseong International Theme Park utilizing the Paramount brand is expected to be established as an unprecedented theme park where visitors can directly experience Paramount's fantastic content world that could only be viewed through media, offering pleasure, inspiration, and healing, and as an Asian representative landmark.

The Hwaseong International Theme Park will be developed by Shinsegae Hwaseong Co., Ltd. (Shinsegae Property + Shinsegae Construction) on the eastern site within Songsan Green City in Shin-oe-ri, Namyang-eup, Hwaseong City, with a size of approximately 4.230㎢, and is a large-scale project with 4.57 trillion won in project costs (100% private investment) that has experienced setbacks with the project being terminated twice.

The company plans to complete tourism complex development plans in the second half of next year, with a target opening in 2029. Gyeonggi Province and Hwaseong City plan to actively provide administrative support for the smooth development and opening of the Hwaseong International Theme Park.

Gyeonggi Province expects that the development of a complex resort-type theme park that consolidates entertainment facilities such as theme parks and water parks, and comprehensive facilities such as Starfield, hotels, resorts, and golf courses, will create approximately 110,000 jobs and attract 30 million visitors annually, promoting domestic tourism vitalization and generating regional economic development effects (production-inducing effects of 70.6 trillion won). In particular, it is expected to serve as an important axis driving infrastructure expansion and economic development on Gyeonggi's west coast in connection with Gyeonggi Province's ongoing "Major Western Gyeonggi Development" project.