The Cheongju Tabacco Processing Plant was established November 1^st in 1946 as the local production line of the Kyeongseong National Tobacco Company. In 1953, the owner ship of the factory as transferred to the Seoul Tobacco Company, and 1987 it became a branch of the National Tobacco Company of Korea. It had many labors, at the least about 3000 people, at the most about 10000 people, as the cradle of modern industry represent Cheongju, and it was the main pillar for only people lived in Cheongju. The factory supported their livelihood they want. It was the largest plant in Korea, produced 10 billion cigarettes very year for the domestic market, and exported cigarettes to 17 countries in the world.

  As the result of the changing global market, the raw tobacco processing factory was closed, and in 2004, the plant stopped production all together. With the plant’s closing, a festive local market, open mainly on pay-days, was shut down as well. Clamorous street turned empty, and roaring truck engine and the heady scent of cigarette smoke have disappeared into history. In the fall of 2011, however, the Cheongju International Craft Biennale will open in this historic, Korean industrial site, challenging the modern starkness of the plant’s concrete buildings by combining them with the cultural industry of craft.