Osan Mayor Lee Gwon-jae Visits Japan Itemitsu Kosan R&D Center

"Osan is a Prime Investment Location for Itemitz" Sales Diplomacy

On the 9th, Osan City in Gyeonggi Province announced on the 10th that Mayor Lee Gwon-jae visited the R&D center of Idemitsu Kosan, a Japanese petrochemical and materials company, located in Sodegaura City, Chiba Prefecture.

This visit was made upon the invitation of Idemitsu Kosan's Korean subsidiary, 'Idemitsu Advanced Materials Korea,' in September.

Idemitsu Kosan is a petrochemical and materials company with annual sales of approximately 95 trillion KRW. The company established its first overseas sole R&D subsidiary, Idemitsu Advanced Materials Korea, in Osan City and is currently constructing the 'Osan R&D Research Center' in Naesammi-dong, aiming to start operations in the first half of next year. The company plans to invest 28 billion KRW in the Osan R&D Center and create more than 80 new jobs.

Osan Mayor Lee Kwon-jae (right) shakes hands with Takamitsu Nagase, Head of the Electronic Materials Division at Itamitsu Kosan, Japan, during a visit to the company's R&D center.
[Photo by Osan City]

Before inspecting the R&D center, Mayor Lee held a luncheon meeting with key officials from Idemitsu Kosan, including Takamitsu Nagase, Head of the Electronic Materials Division; Masayuki Kaneshige, General Manager; Toshihiro Iwakuma, Director; Hikaru Ito, Korea Project Leader; and Ki-hyup Lee, Former Senior Executive.

At the meeting, representatives from Idemitsu Kosan stated, "We chose Osan because of its excellent accessibility to Seoul and smooth talent inflow," and especially expressed gratitude for the cooperation of Osan City's Corporate SOS Team (now Corporate Support Team).

In response, Mayor Lee said, "I understand that Idemitsu Kosan is putting great effort into lithium batteries and next-generation materials. If this leads to additional overseas investment plans, we hope you will invest in Osan City," adding, "We will continue to provide administrative support without hesitation."

Mayor Lee and his delegation inspected high-performance materials and advanced materials-related facilities such as the lithium battery division, next-generation materials research institute, and electronic materials division within the R&D research center. At the site, they also reviewed the innovation processes for ▲lithium batteries ▲organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) ▲advanced bio industries, which will also be conducted at the Osan R&D Research Center.

The mayor emphasized, "Osan City, aiming to build an economically self-sufficient city and a specialized city for semiconductor materials, parts, and equipment, has the advantage of being at the center of a well-connected transportation network and the metropolitan semiconductor belt," adding, "Additional investment by Idemitsu Kosan will be a great opportunity for mutual growth and cooperation between both sides."

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