Shrinking South Korean towns compete to host once-shunned prisons

Seven South Korean municipalities hit by population decline have bid to host four new prisons, once-shunned facilities they now hope will bring jobs and residents.

Yeongdeok, Yeongyang, Uiseong and Cheongsong counties in North Gyeongsang Province, the city of Jecheon and Boeun County in North Chungcheong Province, and Jeongseon County in Gangwon Province submitted bids, Yonhap News Agency reported on Nov. 4, the Justice Ministry's deadline for proposals.

The ministry plans to choose the four sites in December. It will spend 241.9 billion won (US$180 million) on each facility, which will hold 1,000 inmates and employ 250 correctional staff, with all four scheduled for completion by 2034.

The ministry launched the bidding in August to ease prison overcrowding. Correctional facilities nationwide were operating at 126.2% of capacity at the end of August, according to Justice Ministry data cited in October by Joo Jin-woo, a lawmaker from the main opposition People Power Party.

Prisons had long been considered unwanted by residents, but the bidders now hope they will bring jobs, prop up local economies and populations, and boost local spending by drawing visitors.

In Yeongdeok, 80.8% of residents polled in October backed hosting a prison, and some 500 people in Yeongyang rallied for that county's bid on Oct. 27.

A town in Gurye County, South Jeolla Province, South Korea. Photo by Unsplash/IRa Kang

South Korea has long grappled with a chronically low birth rate and an overcrowded capital region, leaving many municipalities outside Seoul struggling to stem population loss. The country's total fertility rate, among the world's lowest, stood at 0.80 in 2025, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics.

Yeongyang had 15,955 residents as of October, the second-smallest population among North Gyeongsang's 22 cities and counties, while Cheongsong had 24,679, Kyeonggi Ilbo reported.

The contest is the ministry's first nationwide competitive bidding for prison sites, which were previously chosen through consultations with local governments, The Korea Times reported. Municipalities must now gather residents' views and win local council approval before bidding.

Support is thinner in Jecheon, where a survey found 61.7% of respondents in favor and 38.3% opposed, the newspaper said.

Cheongsong, which already hosts four correctional facilities, the largest cluster in the country, is bidding for a fifth. Jinbo-myeon, the Cheongsong township where they stand, has 6,861 residents and about 1,100 correctional officers and draws some 14,000 visitors a year, according to the newspaper.

The newspaper also noted that officers may commute from nearby cities rather than settle in the host counties, which would limit the economic payoff unless local governments invest in housing, schools and other infrastructure.