Why President Moon Visited Pohang, the Aspiring Battery Mecca

GS Construction Attends Battery Recycling Manufacturing Facility Investment Agreement Ceremony... Also Visits POSCO Smart Factory

[Asia Economy reporters Ryu Jeong-min and Hwang Yoon-joo] On the 9th, President Moon Jae-in visited the Pohang Regulatory Free Zone and attended the investment agreement ceremony for GS Construction's 'Battery Recycling Manufacturing Facility.' This was President Moon's first visit to a regulatory free zone. Pohang, symbolizing the 'steel city,' is preparing to re-emerge as a hub for the next-generation battery industry, leveraging its designation as a regulatory free zone.

The investment agreement ceremony for the battery recycling manufacturing facility, attended by GS Construction, Gyeongbuk Province, and Pohang City, was held that morning at the indoor gymnasium of Pohang Sports Complex. From the government, Minister Choi Ki-young of the Ministry of Science and ICT and Minister Park Young-sun of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups participated. Additionally, about 250 people attended, including Liberty Korea Party lawmakers Park Myung-jae and Kim Jung-jae, Gyeongbuk Governor Lee Cheol-woo, Pohang Mayor Lee Kang-deok, and GS Construction CEO (Vice Chairman) Lim Byung-yong.

President Moon said, "(With GS Construction's investment) more than 300 new jobs will be created. It is the largest investment among the 14 regulatory free zones nationwide and the first by a large corporation," adding, "It will be a definite turning point for Pohang's economy to take a new leap forward."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The government introduced the regulatory free zone system in April last year with the goals of revitalizing local economies and fostering future new industries. When designated as a regulatory free zone, the 'three regulatory innovation packages'?▲ rapid regulatory confirmation ▲ temporary permits ▲ demonstration exemptions?are applied. Gyeongsangbuk-do was designated as a regulatory free zone in the next-generation battery recycling sector in July last year and successfully attracted GS Construction's investment.

GS Construction plans to invest 100 billion KRW by 2022 to develop used battery recycling, which is promising due to the expansion of the electric vehicle market, as a future growth business. There is also an analysis that the used electric vehicle battery market will grow to 60 trillion KRW by 2050.

President Moon's third visit to Pohang since taking office reflects his expectations for revitalizing the local economy. Earthquake victims from Pohang also attended the event.

President Moon moved to the seats where the earthquake victims were seated to offer comfort. After attending the investment agreement ceremony, President Moon visited POSCO's smart factory to inspect the state-of-the-art blast furnace based on artificial intelligence (AI) and data. The smart blast furnace contributes to cost reduction and quality improvement, which are difficult to achieve with existing technology, by automatically controlling the furnace condition using deep learning-based AI technology.

POSCO's smart factory has been selected as a 'Lighthouse Factory (a factory leading global manufacturing transformation)' jointly by the World Economic Forum and McKinsey & Company. There is only one Lighthouse Factory in Korea, POSCO's smart factory, and only 26 worldwide, underscoring its recognized technological excellence.

POSCO Chairman Choi Jeong-woo introduced the progress of POSCO's smart factory initiatives to President Moon. POSCO is collecting and standardizing factory data accumulated from 50 years of field experience and know-how through its proprietary smart factory platform, 'POSFRAME.'

POSCO plans to invest a total of 20 billion KRW by 2023 to support 1,000 companies for innovative growth of small and medium-sized enterprises. President Moon urged the spread of manufacturing innovation know-how through a win-win cooperation model between large corporations and SMEs.

Chairman Choi said, "We will continue to provide world-class premium products and services through smart technology and actively enhance the competitiveness of our industrial ecosystem by sharing and supporting smart factory experiences with SMEs."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.