Yoon: "Dramatic Tax Support for Corporate Relocation to Provinces... Regions Must Compete and Excel" (Comprehensive)

President Yoon Attends the '1st Local Autonomy and Balanced Development Day Ceremony'
"Regions Cannot All Be the Same... Discover and Attract Superior Industries"
Emphasizes Region-Led Educational Innovation, "Every Region Must Nurture Talent"
"Access to Education, Healthcare, and Culture Is Key"... Foster and Support as 'Education Special Zones'

President Yoon Suk-yeol stated on the 2nd, "If companies in the metropolitan area relocate to provincial regions, we will provide unprecedented tax incentives and regulatory exemptions to institutionally support the attraction of businesses to these areas." This reflects the administration's commitment to fully advancing the era of regional development, a core national agenda, and he urged localities to discover industries with comparative advantages and engage in corresponding attraction activities.

On the same day, President Yoon attended the '1st Local Autonomy and Balanced Development Day Ceremony' held at the Grand Ballroom of the Daejeon Convention Center, saying, "Balanced national development means that regions should catch up with the metropolitan area, but it does not mean that all regions will become the same. The more diligently a region works, the more it develops, so regions must compete and strive to prosper together."

President Yoon Suk-yeol is delivering a commemorative speech at the 2023 Local Era Expo and Local Autonomy and Balanced Development Day ceremony held on the 2nd at the Daejeon Convention Center in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

This event marked the first ceremony held since the enactment of the 'Special Act on Local Autonomy Decentralization and Regional Balanced Development' in July and the launch of the Local Era Committee. Earlier, in September, President Yoon personally attended the 'Local Era Proclamation Ceremony' in Busan, where he promised bold support for creating quality jobs through education linked to regional industries and attracting businesses, as well as the development of residential facilities and complex cultural spaces in regional industrial complexes.

President Yoon identified education and medical innovation as key to fully realizing the local era. He explained, "Education innovation should be led by the regions, and the central government will transfer its held authority to the regions," emphasizing that regional-led education innovation programs are essential for balanced development.

He added, "Education innovation must be led by the regions themselves." Furthermore, to ensure the health and safety of employees, talents, and their families attracted to the regions, the government will establish essential regional medical systems and accelerate policies for regional medical innovation. President Yoon also highlighted attracting businesses and creating jobs through opportunity development zones, 15 national advanced industrial complexes, and national digital innovation districts.

Regarding the medical system, he stated, "The government will establish essential regional medical systems and speed up regional medical innovation policies." President Yoon promised, "If metropolitan companies relocate to provincial areas, we will provide unprecedented tax incentives and regulatory exemptions to institutionally support the attraction of businesses to these regions."

President Yoon also emphasized, "The comprehensive plan for the local era centers on education, healthcare, and cultural accessibility, which are essential for attracting businesses to the regions." The government's '1st Comprehensive Plan for the Local Era' reflects the Local Era Committee's key initiatives, including ▲local era plans for 17 metropolitan cities and provinces ▲sectoral plans from 17 central government ministries ▲development plans for four major super-regions and three special autonomous regions. Additionally, it includes follow-up action plans for the four special zones announced at the Local Era Proclamation Ceremony?opportunity development zones, education development zones, urban convergence zones, and cultural zones?along with ▲implementation of regional policy tasks concretizing presidential regional pledges ▲increasing the resident population ▲and expanding local government autonomy through decentralization.

At the 'Education Development Zone Public Hearing' held that day, the blueprint for the Yoon administration's local era education reform, the 'Education Development Zone Promotion Plan,' was unveiled. The Education Development Zone policy aims to establish a region-led education innovation system that comprehensively supports local public education innovation, nurturing regional talents, and encouraging outstanding talents to settle locally through cooperation among local governments, education offices, universities, regional businesses, and public institutions within the broader framework of regional development.

The core is to develop a regional education advancement strategy and an operational model for the zones suitable to local conditions, enabling quality education from early childhood care, elementary and secondary education, to university education even in provincial areas. The authority and responsibility of local governments over regional education policies will also be significantly expanded. Within the framework of public education, the Education Development Zones will enhance school autonomy and public education competitiveness to improve academic performance of local students without the need for private tutoring.

Meanwhile, the pilot project for the Education Development Zones will begin next year. The basic plan for pilot operation is expected to be announced at the end of November this year, followed by a public contest for selecting pilot regions starting in December. Once designated as pilot regions, they will undergo a three-year pilot operation, after which, based on evaluations by the Education Development Zone Committee, they may be officially designated. During the three-year pilot period, the government plans to prioritize funding from special local education grants and provide budgets ranging from approximately 3 billion to 10 billion KRW per zone.

President Yoon Suk-yeol salutes the national flag at the 2023 Local Era Expo and Local Autonomy and Balanced Development Day ceremony held on the 2nd at the Daejeon Convention Center in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

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