[News Culture] Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province, takes center stage with stories rooted in its markets, alleyways and the people who have quietly built their lives there.
Episode 380 of KBS1’s A Walk Around the Neighborhood, airing July 25, explores a city that has transformed rapidly alongside neighboring Seoul while holding on to places and communities shaped over decades.
The journey begins at Gwangmyeong Cave, once a mine during the Japanese colonial period. After years of abandonment, the site was transformed into a cultural and tourist attraction. With temperatures hovering around 12 degrees Celsius year-round, the cave has also become a popular summer escape.
At Gwangmyeong Traditional Market, Lee Man-ki is joined by comedian Yoon Taek, who spent his younger years in the city. Together, they explore the market and stop at a bindaetteok shop that has been serving customers for 45 years, revisiting flavors and memories that have endured through decades of change.
Their walk also offers a glimpse of the generosity woven into everyday market life, including vendors who carefully prepare hard-to-handle vegetables for their customers.
The episode then turns to Gwangmyeong’s history at Chunghyeon Museum, tracing the life of Yi Won-ik, a Joseon statesman who served five terms as chief state councillor yet became known for his modest and frugal way of life.
Elsewhere in the city, farmer Yang In-ja works to preserve Korea’s native seeds. She travels across the country collecting rare varieties while documenting how they are cultivated, helping keep traditional agricultural knowledge alive alongside the seeds themselves.
Chef Kim Seung-gi has followed a different path of persistence. For 33 years, he has worked behind a hot iron griddle, staying in the kitchen even as the popularity of teppanyaki declined and the COVID-19 pandemic brought new challenges. Today, he continues his craft while passing his experience on to younger chefs.
At Dodeoksan Urban Nature Park, a suspension bridge offers another side of Gwangmyeong. Forest, quarry cliffs and an artificial waterfall come together to create an unexpected landscape in the middle of the city.
The journey concludes with the Kkachibap Social Cooperative, which turns surplus school meals into lunch boxes for local residents. By transforming food that might otherwise go to waste into warm meals, the project combines environmental responsibility with support for neighbors in need.
Markets and mines, seeds and shared meals tell different stories, but together they reveal the people who give Gwangmyeong its character.
The Gwangmyeong episode of KBS1’s A Walk Around the Neighborhood airs July 25 at 7:10 p.m.
Reported by News Culture M.J._mj94070777@nc.press
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