World's Only Toilet Culture Park 'Haewoojae' Surpasses 100,000 Visitors

Haewoojae (Toilet Culture Exhibition Hall), the world's first and only toilet culture park, surpassed its 100,000th cumulative visitor on the 10th, establishing itself as a major tourist destination.

Suwon City selected Lee Byeong-chul (34, physical education teacher) and his family as the 100,000th visitor milestone holder, with Kim Ji-wan, director of the city's Environmental Bureau, presenting a certificate. Lee Sun-young, chairman of the Mr. Toilet Shim Jae-deok Memorial Foundation, presented a bicycle as a prize along with flowers.

Lee Byeong-chul, the 100,000th visitor, remarked, "I am delighted to have received this fortune. As a parent, I am grateful for a place that provides such proper education about bowel habits to children. Going forward, I will promote Haewoojae to the children at my school so they can visit."

Since its opening on October 30, 2010, Haewoojae has been benchmarked by visitors from around the world, including domestic local government officials in charge of restroom-related matters, Malaysian innovation and human development officials, Japan's Toilet Research Institute, and World Leaders Training Program students from Canaan.

Recently, through coverage by major international media outlets such as BBC and Reuters, the distinctive exhibition hall and culture park themed on toilets have been introduced worldwide and established themselves as educational and cultural tourism destinations.

Haewoojae displays domestic and international toilet materials, award-winning works from Suwon's beautiful restrooms, historical relics, entertaining toilet-related exhibits, and artifacts and photographs from late Mayor Shim Jae-deok. The Toilet Culture Park showcases changes in toilets from ancient to modern times alongside humorous and unique sculptures at a glance.

Haewoojae is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. except Mondays. Visitors can also take advantage of Suwon City Tours, which operate twice daily, to explore other Suwon tourist attractions including Hwaseong Haenggung Palace.

Additionally, visitors can participate in interesting children's experiential education programs themed around feces on weekends, leading to a significant increase in weekend family visits with young children. Foreign tourists arriving through overseas travel programs continue to visit.

A city official stated, "We are pursuing plans to reinforce the functions of the Toilet Culture Exhibition Hall (Haewoojae), the world's largest toilet-shaped building, and establish a Haewoojae Culture Center equipped with convenience facilities within the Toilet Culture Park." The official added, "We plan to construct a toilet culture tourism infrastructure serving as a civic recreation space and distinctive cultural venue."