Changwon Mayor Hong Nampyo and Assemblyman Kim Youngsun Deliver Petition Signed by 51 National Assembly Members to Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport

Relentless Efforts in Gyeongju for the New Designation of 'Changwon National Industrial Complex 2.0'

Hong Nampyo, Mayor of Changwon Special City in Gyeongnam, and Kim Youngsun, Member of the National Assembly, delivered a petition to Won Heeryong, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, for the new designation of 'Changwon National Industrial Complex (2.0)'.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Song Jong-gu] Hong Nampyo, Mayor of Changwon Special City in Gyeongnam, and Kim Young-sun, Member of the National Assembly, delivered a petition signed by 51 members of the National Assembly for the new designation of ‘Changwon National Industrial Complex (2.0)’ to Won Hee-ryong, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, at the National Land Development Exhibition Hall in Seoul on the 28th.

Changwon Special City has already submitted a related proposal to the central government to be designated as a ‘new Changwon National Industrial Complex specialized in the defense and nuclear power industries.’

Despite recent difficult economic conditions, South Korea has enhanced its status as an export powerhouse with large-scale defense export contracts with Poland and the winning of the El-Dabaa nuclear power plant project in Egypt. Changwon is the undisputed largest domestic defense cluster and a core city of the nuclear power industry, and these export windfalls are giving new hope to defense and nuclear power companies in Changwon.

Mayor Hong advocated for a vision of an innovative industrial city surpassing Japan’s Sendai and France’s Grenoble, which will open the future 50 years for Changwon and South Korea. To this end, he proposed a new convergent future industrial complex concept equipped with advanced large-scale joint research facilities to simultaneously secure the competitiveness of resident companies and foster high-level talent, as well as a defense and nuclear power specialized national industrial complex (Industrial Complex 2.0) model.

To achieve this, Mayor Hong and Assemblyman Kim have directly promoted ▲presentation of the logic for lifting the greenbelt in the Changwon area at a National Assembly-hosted forum to secure new land for the Changwon National Industrial Complex ▲explanation of the national industrial complex proposal and candidate site on-site to the Ministry of Land evaluation team ▲persuasion of members of the National Assembly standing committees.

The recently announced next year’s national budget includes funds for Changwon City’s next-generation key projects such as advanced complex beams and UAM, raising expectations as a catalyst for regional economic recovery. However, the current Changwon National Industrial Complex is saturated due to expansion limitations and is facing difficulties such as a yearly decrease in export volume, making land for new future core facilities urgently needed.

Mayor Hong said, “Changwon, based on a solid manufacturing industry, intends to once again fulfill its national and social role in securing new growth engines for South Korea’s next 50 years and achieving a quantum leap in manufacturing,” adding, “We request active interest and support for Changwon National Industrial Complex 2.0 so that the government’s goals of becoming a manufacturing powerhouse and achieving the top five export countries can be realized.”

Assemblyman Kim said, “More than 50 fellow lawmakers agreed that the new national industrial complex in Changwon’s defense and nuclear power sectors will bring about a great leap forward for South Korea’s economy in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and signed the petition,” adding, “Some lawmakers, even though their constituencies are applying for national industrial complex designation, share the recognition of the new National Industrial Complex 2.0 and support Changwon.”

The Ministry of Land plans to finalize the evaluation of the plans submitted by local governments including Changwon Special City and announce the selection results around mid-January next year.

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