Jeju Provincial Council Member Kim Seungjun Criticizes Lack of Strategy for Achieving $300 Million in Exports

"Serious Concentration on Export Items and Destinations... Diversification Needed"
"Calls for Achieving Results Through Developing the ASEAN Market"

Seungjun Kim, Jeju Provincial Assembly Member.

Kim Seungjun, a member of the Jeju Provincial Council (The Minjoo Party of Korea, Hangyeong-myeon and Chuja-myeon), criticized the lack of strategy for achieving Jeju's goal of $300 million in exports by 2026 during the main business report at the 435th extraordinary session of the Agriculture, Fisheries, Livestock, and Economy Committee held on the 19th.

Kim pointed out, "After Jeju surpassed $200 million in exports and reached an all-time high in 2021, exports have fallen below $200 million since 2022. Last year's export performance also decreased to $188.92 million compared to the previous year, and there is no visible strategy for achieving the $300 million export target for next year."

He further noted, "While total exports decreased by 2.7% compared to the previous year, only semiconductor exports increased by 5%. The dependency on the top two export items (semiconductors 55%, flatfish 13%) has intensified, and Hong Kong accounts for 40% of export destinations, indicating a high reliance on a specific country."

He emphasized, "It is necessary to establish a strategy to continuously discover export-driving items and expand export destinations in response to changes in external economic conditions."

Kim also pointed out, "Although we have suggested discovering export routes so that agricultural products from Jeju can expand into premium markets in ASEAN, including Indonesia, there are still insufficient tangible results." He urged, "This year, please make efforts to achieve concrete export outcomes, including developing premium markets in the ASEAN region and through the Jeju Office in Singapore."

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