The Giant Slide in Square One!
Here is an activity for all ages! You can escape the cold weather step inside and have some fun! Can you guess what it is?
This is a giant slide in Square 1, the American style mall which has a variety of restaurants, clothes stores, a hair salon, cafes and a movie theater.
This slide boasts itself as one of the longest and highest slides in Korea. It takes about 10 seconds to get to the bottom from the top. (The length is 44m and the height is 20m.) You can ride this slide for free if you just visit the mall.
If you are looking for something to do, visit Square 1 near Dongchun subway station of the Incheon Subway Line 1.
It is the first of its kind in Korea!
※ Restrictions
- Minimum height : 120cm
- People who are pregnant or have been drinking are not allowed to ride the slide.
- People who have neck pain, back pain or high blood pressure are recommended not to ride the slide.
- Unable to ride the slide with a companion.
Location
210, Cheongneung-daero, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon
Hours for the slide
2pm-8pm on weekdays / 12pm-9pm on weekends
Incheon bolsters its status as a green city
New environmental and climate change research institutes and a recycling experience center will open within this year in Incheon Metropolitan City.
First, the Incheon Climate and Environment Research Center (ICERC) is scheduled to launch in G-Tower of Songdo in April.
Incheon has been in preparation for establishing the ICERC to get direct expert advice in tackling health hazards such as fine dust and fostering climate and environmental industries.
The Center will serve as a think tank to come up with solutions for local environmental problems and contribute to environmental policy making for efficient climate response.
Other focus areas include to create a carbon fund and to provide environmental consulting service for businesses.
Starting as an affiliated organization of the Incheon Development Institute, the ICERC will wean off of it as an independent foundation in 2019.
Second, the Upcycle EcoCenter, where visitors can see and experience recycling processes, will begin its operation in Nam-gu in April, too.
Upcycling is the practice of creating a useable product from waste or unwanted items or adapting an existing product in some ways to add value.
The building of the new center, whose project cost is worth $4.29 million, is a zero-energy construction with 3 floors and the total area of 860㎡.
Energy sources for heating and cooling, water heating and lighting of the building will be renewables. PV panels, a geothermal power generator and small wind turbines will be installed.
The EcoCenter is designed to run environmental education programs in its own facilities such as the Ecosystem Playground, the Rainwater Garden, the Renewable Energy Experience Facilities, the Resource Circulation Booth and the DIY Upcycling Corner.
pic.1. Upcycling EcoCenter
pic.2. Environmental Industry and Research Complex
Finally, the Environmental Industry and Research Complex (EIRC) will be completed in the area of 0.18㎡of Seo-gu in May.
The $0.12biliion EIRC project, which was funded by the Ministry of Environment (MOE), will help environmental businesses throughout the entire process from technology development to export.
The complex consists of a number of separate buildings for administration, research and experiment, pilot test and prototype production.
Companies engaged in environmental areas of waste disposal, air pollution control and water quality management can apply for moving in. Member companies in the complex will deal with the entire commercialization process from R&D, test-bed experiment, prototype production and export.
They also can receive systematic expert support from the Korea Environmental Industry and Technology Institute (KEITI), an MOE affiliated and specialized organization for R&D support, and the Korea Environment Corporation, which is accredited under the Korea Laboratory Accreditation Scheme.
The Environmental Venture Center will also be established in the complex to help venture firms and entrepreneurs with creative ideas or excellent technologies related to the environmental sector.
Incheon has developed a vision to emerge as a green hub city in Asia with the UN’s climate fund hosted in Songdo in 2013 and new environment and climate institutes.
Service robots will be produced in Songdo
A local robot manufacturer invested by German home appliances maker Miele will move in to the Songdo International Business District (IBD). Yujin Robot Inc. held a groundbreaking ceremony on January 18 for its new office in the Sogdo IBD’s Knowledge and Information Industrial Complex.
Yujin Robot is a Korean robotics company that researches and develops intelligent service robots. Its new building, whose construction cost is $21.2 million, will be equipped with manufacturing and research facilities and consist of four floors above ground and one basement with the gross floor area of 14,600㎡.
When completed in October, Yujin Robot’s new home in Songdo will host the company’s HQ and manufacturing facilities now in Seoul and Bucheon respectively, and all the three hundred staff. Each floor of the construction will have different functions, and customers at the Robot Café on the first floor will be served by autonomous mobile robots developed by Yujin.
German Miele invested, through its holding company Imanto AG, $11.8 million in the construction project.
The current number of foreign invested companies located in the Incheon Free Economic Zone is 76 (58 in Songdo, 12 in Yeongjong and 6 in Cheongna). Yujin Robot will be the first robotics business to move in the Songdo IBD.
Yujin Robot CEO Kyung-chul Shin said, “Incheon’s strength lies in its easy access to foreign buyers and thus export facilitation. As a leading robotics company in Korea, we will be the base for robot development and production.”
SUNY Korea has its First Alumni
State University of New York (SUNY) Korea in Songdo bade adieu to its first graduating class. What makes the first alumni all the more meaningful is that all the 10 graduating students have already decided on their careers, including landing a job or advancing to a graduate programme.
The Class of 2016 consists of 8 undergraduates and two graduates of one with a master’s degree and the other a doctoral degree.
SUNY Korea is the first American university to have opened a campus in Korean as well as the first to join the Incheon Global Campus (IGC).
The commencement ceremony was held with 200 people present on January 13 in the Multi-Complex of the IGC. A number of major guests also attended the event to celebrate the pioneers. The major guests included Stony Brook University President Dr. Samuel Stanley, former Korean Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Ministry of Science and Technology Planning Mr. Myung Oh, and Commissioner of the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority Mr. Young-geun Lee.
In his commencement speech, President Stanley said, “What you have learned and experienced through Stony Brook's excellent curriculum and faculties will be put to good use in society. I look forward to all graduating students today, as members of SUNY Korea, striding into the international arena with the spirit of challenge.”
Commissioner Lee also delivered his congratulatory remarks. “Incheon will offer substantial support so that the Incheon Global Campus (IGC) can become an educational hub in Asia.”
He also said, “the IGC is in consultation with the world’s leading universities and research centers to open their branch in its site.”
The Incheon Global Campus aims at attracting the world’s renowned universities to become an educational hub in Northeast Asia. Since SUNY Korea’s establishment in 2012, George Mason University, Ghent University, and Utah University set up their campuses in Songdo.
Let’s enjoy sports even in winter
Winter is great for boiling sweet potatoes and lying down on a hot floor to read books.
Those with chubby bodies stand to gain weight due to lack of exercise, while thinking it's too cold to work out in bitter cold. Maybe this is a good time to go to the new gym in town.
1. Seonhak Gymnasium reborn as a venue for "Sports for All"
Located within walking distance from Seonhak Station, Seonhak Gymnasium hosted boxing matches in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games. In June, Yeonsu-gu took over the gym’s
operation, and will continue to do so for four years per a work agreement with Incheon Metropolitan City. Accordingly, the gym has been returned to Yeonsu-gu residents as a place of "Sports for All," including table tennis and badminton. Many who step in there eagerly want to play table tennis. While the area outside of the gym was battered by a subzero cold wave, inside was filled with heat from people sweating in their short-sleeve sportswear.
Bok-sun Song, 59, a zealous student in the advanced class, registered for the class as soon as Seonhak Gymnasium opened. She praised the gym for its clean facilities, many tables and even an electronic ticket issuing machine. She also said her quality of life got better due to "Sports for All" programs in such a fine facility near her residence.
Admission is $2.8 or ￦3,300 for two hours, and a daily pass is available for the gym.
Classes are now exclusively for table tennis but those for badminton will open from January 2016.
* Details of Seonhak Gymnasium
• Tuition : Table tennis ($33.9 or ￦40,000/month), Badminton ($23.8 or ￦28,000/month)
• Tel : 032-749-6942 (Operation Office) 2. Seonhak International Ice Arena
Though natural to seek warm places during the cold winter, Seonhak International Ice Arena is filled with people looking for blade-like wind. The sound of skates dividing the wind along the cheerful whistle and sound of hockey sticks brushing against the ice show how heated practice is of Killer Whale's Ice Hockey Club, a children's ice hockey team. The heavy equipment and large uniforms seem uncomfortable, but the young athletes focus on practicing. The team was organized in 2016, and holds regular practices and training.
Besides ice hockey, the arena also offers regular classes in skating.
* Details on Seonhak International Ice Arena
• Fees : Children ($2.12 or ￦2,500 /3 hours) Youths ($2.55 or ￦3,000/3 hours) Adults ($3.4 or ￦4,000/3 hours) Skate rental ($2.55 or ￦3,000)
• Opening hours : Weekdays (13:00 ~ 18:00)
Weekends & holidays (10:00 ~ 18:00)
* Closed every first and third Monday of the month
• Tel : 032-821-5723
