Korea is to get its first nude beach on the east coast in Gangwon Province.

The Gangwon provincial government on Tuesday said it wants to set up the nude beach by 2017 to invigorate tourism. The site will be selected from recommendations or in a competition next year. It will open in 2017 once facilities have been installed and access to outsiders restricted.

The regional government wants to benchmark popular nude beaches abroad.

In 2005, the Gangwon provincial government already reviewed a similar project but fell foul of conservative locals.

