CHANGWON — A zip line tower at Jinhae Marine Park in Changwon, shut down for four years after a fatal accident, will reopen as a marine activity facility. The city plans to keep the tower standing and install a spiral slide running down the outer wall of the 99-meter structure to turn the site into a marine activity destination.
Changwon said on the 30th that it will introduce an "extreme slide" at the zip line facility inside Jinhae Marine Park and develop the site into a mixed-use marine tourism complex combining an edge walk, observation and rest areas, a restaurant and a cultural space. The city said the slide would be the world's longest based on tower height.
The Jinhae Marine Park zip line opened in October 2019 but suspended operations in July 2022 after a fatal accident. The operator subsequently failed to meet the terms of its agreement, and the city pursued legal action including termination of the agreement and a suit to recover the building. The city recently completed the handover of the building, clearing the way for new use of the facility.
Through a feasibility study on how to use the site, the city reviewed options including demolition, resuming zip line operations and converting the facility to another purpose. Full demolition would have been costly and risked losing an existing tourism asset. Resuming zip line operations was found to have limits given the negative image formed after the accident and the difficulty of ensuring safety.
The centerpiece extreme slide is an unpowered attraction to be built as a spiral structure with a total length of 230 meters along the outer wall of the 99-meter tower. Transparent skylights will let riders take in ocean views along with the sense of speed, and the structure will be reinforced and fitted with a safety management system so that families can use it as a facility designed for general visitors.
The existing edge walk, a high-altitude attraction, will be repaired and reinforced, and the city will add an observation deck and photo zones offering ocean views. The management building next to the tower will be converted into a mixed-use cultural space with a cafe, a restaurant and exhibition and activity areas.
The project will be pursued in tandem with "Jinhae Flirting With the Sea and Islands," a marine leisure tourism hub development project under way around Jinhae Marine Park. The city said that once both projects are in place, the marine park will gain tourism content and visitor amenities, making it a place where families stay rather than simply pass through.
"This is a project that revives a facility that sat idle for a long time as a new tourism asset instead of tearing it down," Changwon Mayor Kang Ki-yun said. "We will preserve the strengths of the existing tower while strengthening safety and broad appeal to make Jinhae Marine Park a leading marine activity destination."
