Hong Nampyo, Changwon Special City Mayor, Strongly Promotes Securing Food Sources for the Next 50 Years

First On-Site Schedule of the New Year, Including the Planned Site for 'Changwon National Industrial Complex 2.0'

Consecutive Visits to Key Sites in Defense, Nuclear, Hydrogen, and Space Industries

On the 2nd, Hong Nampyo, Mayor of Changwon Special City in Gyeongnam, began his first field schedule of the new year with a site visit to the "Changwon Future 50 Years Food Industry."

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Song Jong-gu] Hong Nampyo, Mayor of Changwon Special City in Gyeongnam, began his first field schedule of the new year on the 2nd at the site of ‘Changwon’s Future 50 Years Food Industry.’

Mayor Hong set ‘laying the foundation for future innovative growth’ as the top priority task this year and sequentially visited key sites of the city’s focused industries ▲defense ▲nuclear power ▲hydrogen ▲space industry to encourage related personnel and unite determination for the successful promotion of related projects.

After the opening ceremony, Mayor Hong moved to Toechon-dong, Uichang-gu. This area is the planned site for the ‘research hub,’ which is the core of ‘Changwon National Industrial Complex 2.0,’ a new industrial complex designation that Changwon City is concentrating on.

The planned Changwon National Industrial Complex 2.0 is a future-oriented specialized industrial complex forming a triangular structure consisting of ▲a production base centered on manufacturing companies ▲an advanced base centered on cutting-edge ICT ▲a research hub that simultaneously fosters advanced large-scale joint research facilities, R&D, and high-level talent.

In particular, this year, 500 million KRW was secured as project planning service fees for the national budget-supported project to ‘establish a next-generation advanced complex beam irradiation facility.’ This project aims to build Korea’s first industrial-customized accelerator (irradiation facility), and if it passes the preliminary feasibility study, a total project cost of 390.7 billion KRW will be fully funded by the national budget over six years from this year to 2028. Moreover, this facility is expected to become the core facility of the research hub.

Next, Mayor Hong visited the planned hydrogen specialized complex site in Sangbok-dong, Seongsan-gu, and visited the Hydrogen Mobility Research Headquarters of the Korea Automotive Technology Institute (hereinafter Hanjayeon) and the hydrogen production base construction site of Korea Gas Corporation.

Changwon City is promoting the attraction of capable hydrogen companies and strengthening the competitiveness of local hydrogen companies through various hydrogen vehicle-related research support and collaboration conducted at Hanjayeon’s Hydrogen Mobility Research Headquarters, which will begin full operation from March.

Additionally, by linking the Korea Gas Corporation’s hub-type hydrogen production base, scheduled for completion in October, with Hanjayeon’s Hydrogen Mobility Research Headquarters, the city plans to develop the area around Wanan-dong, Sangbok-dong, and Namji-dong in Seongsan-gu (an area of 436,258㎡) into a hydrogen specialized complex, fostering it as a core base for the hydrogen industry through the attraction of support facilities and related company agglomeration.

Then, Mayor Hong visited the hinterland area of Gapo New Port in Masanhappo-gu, where Hanwha Aerospace is promoting the attraction of the Korean-type launch vehicle assembly plant and component production factory.

This site is currently competing with other regions as a candidate site for the assembly plant to be used as the main infrastructure for the Ministry of Science and ICT’s ‘Korean-type Launch Vehicle Advancement Project’ announced last September. It shows superiority over other regions in comprehensive aspects such as corporate infrastructure, accessibility, port facilities, residential conditions, and workforce supply.

Previously, Hanwha Aerospace was selected last year as the preferred negotiator for the Ministry of Science and ICT’s ‘Korean-type Launch Vehicle Advancement Project System Integration Company’ and will jointly oversee four repeated launches of the Nuri rocket with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute by 2027, receiving the entire launch vehicle development technology cycle from the institute. The total investment scale of this project amounts to 687.3 billion KRW.

Changwon City plans to establish and implement a ‘leading space parts city’ strategy centered on Hanwha Aerospace to meet the demand for space parts industry through specialization in materials, parts, and equipment, and will also link with future mobility new industries such as Urban Air Mobility (UAM).

Finally, Mayor Hong concluded the day’s field schedule by visiting ‘Gapo Hydrogen Charging Station,’ Korea’s first hydrogen bus charging station built as a government demonstration project.

Mayor Hong said, “This year is a very important year as the practical first year of the 8th elected administration and laying the foundation for future innovative growth,” adding, “We will do our best to prepare the future 50 years food industry of Changwon and Korea through fostering the defense, nuclear power, hydrogen, and space industries, in which our city has strengths.”

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