Jo Joohyun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Encourages Gyeongbuk's 'Excellent Battery Special Zone' and Listens to On-site Voices

Nationwide First 3 Consecutive Years of Excellent Operational Performance Evaluation

Gyeongbuk Technopark.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Gwiyeol] On the 6th, Cho Joo-hyun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, toured key sites of the ‘Gyeongbuk Next-Generation Battery Recycling Regulatory Free Zone’ in Pohang, Gyeongbuk, and held a meeting.

About 20 people attended the meeting, including Lee Dal-hee, Deputy Governor for Economy of Gyeongbuk Province, Lee Kang-deok, Mayor of Pohang, and Ha In-seong, Director of Gyeongbuk Technopark.

This on-site meeting was held to encourage participating companies and stakeholders and to review the progress made so far, following the Regulatory Free Zone operation performance evaluation conducted this year, where it was selected as an excellent zone for three consecutive years (2019?2021) nationwide for the first time.

The Gyeongbuk Next-Generation Battery Recycling Regulatory Free Zone was designated in July 2019 and is promoting commercialization and industrialization through demonstration of reuse and recycling of used batteries in Pohang’s Blue Valley National Industrial Complex and Yeongilman Industrial Complex.

First, they visited the Gyeongbuk Secondary Battery Integrated Management Center, which plays a key forward base role in establishing a national resource circulation system for used batteries.

Used battery after electric vehicle use.

The province explained the achievements of the battery free zone and plans for building the Gyeongbuk secondary battery industrial belt and entering the global market through the presentation titled ‘The Footsteps and Future of the Gyeongbuk Battery Regulatory Free Zone.’

During the meeting, opinions were exchanged on field difficulties in operating the free zone and future directions for institutional improvements, and they inspected the used battery storage building and reliability and safety evaluation facilities of the Secondary Battery Integrated Management Center.

Vice Minister Cho said, “The Gyeongbuk battery free zone is the zone that has contributed the most to the establishment of the Regulatory Free Zone system,” and added, “Please continue to do your best on-site so that the industrialization expansion can succeed based on the achievements made so far.”

Next, they visited EcoPro, the anchor company of the battery free zone, and received explanations from company officials about the company introduction, current status of the secondary battery new industry, and promotion strategies.

They then toured the ‘EcoPro Pohang Campus,’ being developed with a large-scale investment of 2.2 trillion KRW by 2025 on 310,000㎡ within the Yeongilman Industrial Complex in Pohang.

Kim Byung-hoon, CEO of EcoPro, said, “From a company’s perspective, regulations are the biggest obstacle to commercialization, but by observing the regulatory innovation process through the free zone, we directly confirmed the potential of the battery recycling industry,” and added, “We will work together with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and local governments to become a leading regional growth company.”

Vice Minister Cho said, “The success of the battery free zone was possible because there were companies that overcame uncertainties such as legal deficiencies and grew together with the region,” and added, “We will convey the voices from the field well to related ministries and actively reflect and support the future operation of the free zone system.”

Deputy Governor Lee Dal-hee said, “The Gyeongbuk Next-Generation Battery Recycling Regulatory Free Zone is a representative success case of regional balanced development through regulatory innovation,” and added, “The province will continue to expand growth bases in new technology and new industry fields so that Gyeongbuk can once again leap to the center of the Republic of Korea.”

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