‘Gwangju Future City and Future Car Industry’ Policy Forum Successfully Held

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] A policy forum on ‘Gwangju Future City and Future Car Industry’ was held at the Gwangju City Council on the 2nd to prepare for the rapidly changing future automobile industry and to seek ways to revitalize the local economy by considering the coexistence of urban and regional industries.

Co-hosted by the Gwangju-Jeonnam Development Policy Forum, Gwangju Technopark, and Honam University Link 3.0 Project Group, the event was attended by experts from various fields including industry, academia, and research.

This policy forum was held to gather opinions from various sectors regarding the relocation of Kia Autoland Gwangju (Gwangju Plant) and the concentration of the regional automobile industry based on this, aiming to sustain and develop the automobile industry, Gwangju’s largest key industry.

In his opening remarks, Kim Deok-mo, Chairman of the Gwangju-Jeonnam Development Policy Forum, stated, “It is time to consider the future of Gwangju where spiritual values and industrial development coexist,” and added, “I hope this policy forum will be the beginning of continuous discussions for the development of Gwangju.”

The first presenter, Kim Tae-ho, Deputy Director of the Real Estate Economics Research Institute at Seoul National University, spoke on the topic of ‘Future City Development Strategies for Urban Competitiveness.’ He emphasized the need to recognize the importance of industrial complexes through job supply within the city and to establish effective management plans. He explained clear methodologies for policy directions related to industrial land in cities and effective ways to provide and attract industrial complexes that can reduce future uncertainties in corporate activities.

He concluded his presentation by stressing, “Establishing directions for securing and managing industrial land based on future industrial policies is the most important factor to ensure the city’s continuous growth foundation.”

The second presenter, Jeong Ju-young, Senior Researcher at Gwangju Technopark, gave a presentation on ‘Strategies for Fostering Gwangju’s Future Car Industry.’

Jeong explained, “Korea’s automobile industry is steadily developing and emerging as a global leader in the automobile industry,” and described that the automobile industry in the Gwangju region is a major local industry accounting for 43% of sales. However, the parts factories and complete vehicle plants are scattered throughout Gwangju, resulting in low production efficiency.

He then emphasized the need to gather automobile parts factories and the Kia Gwangju plant in one place to achieve high-level concentration in order to reduce logistics inefficiencies caused by dispersed placement, explaining the necessity and ways to achieve the concentration of local automobile parts companies.

Following the presentations, in the urban sector panel discussion, Professor Noh Kyung-soo of the Department of Urban Planning and Real Estate at Gwangju University said, “The method of bearing the relocation project costs varies depending on who demands the relocation. If Kia demands the relocation, Kia bears the relocation costs, but if Gwangju demands it, the relocation process should be led by Gwangju through a donation-for-transfer method, as in the case of the relocation of Gwangju Military Airport.” He also explained that the utilization plan for the Gwangcheon-dong plant site should be considered together with the relocation plan.

Seo Jae-hyung, Chairman of the Urban Architecture Committee at Gwangju Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice, emphasized, “Citizen participation is important in the process of considering the relocation of Kia Autoland Gwangju,” and suggested that if Gwangju citizens voluntarily participate in considering the use of the relocation site, the public consensus on the relocation can be further solidified.

Im Mi-ran, Chairperson of the Administrative Autonomy Committee of the Gwangju City Council, stated, “Smart cities are already around us,” and emphasized, “A smart city should be established on the Gwangcheon-dong plant site to revitalize downtown Gwangju and serve as a model for building future cities,” expressing opinions on downtown revitalization plans using the relocation site.

In the panel discussion on the automobile industry, Lee Hang-gu, Research Fellow at the Korea Automotive Technology Institute, pointed out at the beginning of the discussion that although the sales performance of domestic complete vehicle manufacturers looks good, small and medium-sized parts companies are in a difficult situation. He particularly noted, “The introduction of future car smart factories and digital processes is accelerating, but there is a severe shortage of personnel to support this,” and urged that measures to improve this situation should also be considered.

Yu Young-tae, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Chosun University, explained the concept of software-defined vehicles, a recent trend in the automobile industry, and expressed the opinion that efforts should be made to foster this field and attract companies. He also argued that it is important to arrange spaces where various future car core parts companies in the region can cooperate evenly.

Park Jae-hyun, Research Director at I-Spec Co., Ltd., who attended to convey the voice of the business sector, said that although Gwangju’s complete vehicle production capacity is high, the production ratio of core parts is low, and the proportion of simple processed products such as body and chassis is high. He stressed, “It is time to develop active future car industry transition programs along with measures to improve the lack of root companies in Gwangju and difficulties in securing skilled personnel.”

The last discussant, Professor Son Byung-rae of the Department of Future Automobile Engineering at Honam University, pointed out the reality that young people are struggling to find jobs and argued, “Efforts should be made to create jobs along with the development of Gwangju’s industry.”

Gwangju City plans to accelerate the fostering of the automobile industry in Gwangju by reflecting the main contents from today’s forum through projects such as ‘Establishment of a Specialized Complex for Future Car Materials, Parts, and Equipment in Gwangju’ and ‘Application for Designation of Gwangju Future Automobile National Industrial Complex.’

Meanwhile, Kim Seon-min, Director of Technopark, said, “The Gwangcheon-dong site where the Kia plant is located has been sentenced to death as an automobile production base,” and added, “If relocated to Bitgreen Industrial Complex, the abnormal production line will return to normal, and productivity will improve more than twice.” He further emphasized, “The transition to an electric vehicle plant should create an opportunity for Kia to expand into the global market.”

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