In 2007, Jeungdo received Cittaslow certification alongside Cheongsan Island, Changpyeong-myeon, and Yuchi-myeon. They are introduced as Asia's first certified regions. The earlier claim that Jeungdo was the only island was incorrect: Cheongsan is also an island. Cittaslow evaluates local environment, culture, community, and sustainability, not tourism pace alone.
Behind Jeungdo's ability to earn this certification lay the vast salt fields of Taepyeong Salt Farm, its tidal flats, and the wetland ecosystem surrounding them. The salt fields built by refugees, described in Story 3, had — more than fifty years later — become the basis for an international certification symbolizing the value of "slowness." That the product of labor undertaken purely for survival was reinterpreted as an asset reflecting an entire way of life gives these two stories a natural continuity.
The confirmed certification date is December 1, 2007, shared with three other Korean communities. Cittaslow is not merely an invitation to walk slowly: it concerns local production, environment, culture, participation, and policy, and membership status can change. After road access expanded, conservation and visitor pressure had to be managed together. Salt fields, tidal flats, and pine forest combine natural processes with human waterworks and livelihoods; neither pure-nature advertising nor romanticized inconvenience explains the island accurately.