Interior ministry and Yeogi Eottae partner on clean tourism

The interior ministry said Wednesday it signed a public-private partnership with Yeogi Eottae that pairs its Our Neighborhood Renewal campaign with the company's Sseubong Club to link tourism-focused cleanup activities with local spending.

The ministry said it developed the agreement as environmental cleanup is increasingly discussed as a participatory model combining travel, culture and exchanges between people rather than simple volunteer work. It plans to use the partnership to broaden the campaign into a program people can experience and to secure its sustainability.

Under the agreement, the ministry will build a cooperation system with local governments, connect regional networks and share best practices. Yeogi Eottae will plan and operate cleanup programs at major tourist sites and produce and distribute promotional content. The joint program will begin in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, in late August, before moving to Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, in September and Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province, in October.

"Clean and well-kept local environments are a basic foundation for residents' quality of life and a region's capacity to grow," Kim Min-jae, vice minister of the interior ministry, said.

Yeogi Eottae began running Sseubong Club in 2022 as a program promoting plogging, or picking up litter while running, at travel destinations. About 200 participants and on-site tourists collected 600 liters of waste during a June 2025 beach plogging event in Sokcho. The company said its goal is to make destination plogging a sustainable travel culture that is not difficult to join.