‘South Coast Development United Ruling and Opposition’ Moon Geum-ju and Jeong Jeom-sik Jointly Propose Special Act

Development of the South Coast as a New Marine and Cultural Tourism Hub

Expectations for the Establishment of the South Coast Development Agency and Designation of Development Zones

Ruling and opposition parties have united for the development of the South Coast.

Moon Geum-ju (Goheung-gun, Boseong-gun, Jangheung-gun, Gangjin-gun) of the Democratic Party of Korea and Jeong Jeom-sik (Tongyeong-si, Goseong-gun, Gyeongnam) of the People Power Party announced on the 20th that they jointly proposed the “South Coast Development Special Act” to foster the South Coast as a hub for balanced national development.

The two lawmakers closely cooperated to jointly propose the draft, which was prepared through consultations among Jeonnam Province, Gyeongnam Province, and Busan Metropolitan City, creating a model case of bipartisan cooperation.

The special act aims to overcome the risk of local extinction in the South Coast area, including Jeonnam and Gyeongnam, and to promote regional development and national balanced development through east-west harmony and coexistence by establishing the South Coast Comprehensive Development Agency and providing full administrative and financial support from the government.

The South Coast possesses abundant natural resources such as islands, tidal flats, and coastlines, as well as rich cultural and historical heritage that has been inherited and developed centered on the South Coast. It has sufficient potential to lead national development and balanced growth as a new marine and cultural tourism hub connecting the economically focused metropolitan area and the administratively centered central region.

However, until now, the utilization of natural resources, sustainable preservation and management, and interconnection among major regional resources have been insufficient, and social infrastructure such as a wide-area transportation network connecting the metropolitan area east and west is also lacking.

Lawmaker Moon stated that as a countermeasure, the establishment of the South Coast Comprehensive Development Agency is necessary to provide concentrated and effective national support and development for the relatively underdeveloped South Coast area compared to the East and West Coast regions, explaining the purpose of the bill.

Specifically, the special act includes provisions such as ▲establishing the South Coast Development Committee under the Prime Minister ▲establishing the South Coast Comprehensive Development Agency under the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport ▲designating the South Coast Tourism Promotion Zone ▲designating the South Coast Investment Promotion Zone ▲promoting marine tourism industry, cultural tourism industry, leisure and healing tourism industry, marine and fisheries industry, water leisure industry, sports industry, wellness industry, future energy industry, logistics industry, and supporting the construction of an east-west connecting high-speed railway ▲establishing a special account ▲exempting preliminary feasibility studies for South Coast development projects.

Lawmaker Moon said, “If the special act is enacted, the South Coast area will be able to play a leading role in genuine national balanced development and the era of local autonomy, and overcome the crisis of local extinction. Since there can be no division between ruling and opposition parties in regional development, we will join forces with lawmakers from Gyeongnam and Busan to ensure the special act is enacted swiftly.”

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