Mayor Kim Kyungil: "Paju to Emerge as Northwestern Gyeonggi's Leading Global Business Hub City"

Paju City Begins Full-Scale Preparations for Free Economic Zone Designation
Secures Budget and Hosts Investment Attraction Conference
Aiming to Establish Itself as a Center for Global Economic Cooperation

Paju City in Gyeonggi Province has officially begun efforts to secure designation as a Free Economic Zone by securing a budget for the initiative and planning a conference to attract businesses, as of September 10.

Kim Kyungil, mayor of Paju City, explaining at the Gyeonggi Province public contest on-site evaluation. Provided by Paju City

In December of last year, the city developed the "Paju Free Economic Zone Master Plan (Draft)" for the Gyoha-dong area near Unjeong New Town, identifying bio, display, and media content industries as strategic sectors. Based on this, Paju was ultimately selected as a candidate site for the Gyeonggi Free Economic Zone in April of this year.

The immediate challenge is to establish a differentiated strategy to gain an advantage over competing candidate sites.

As a first step, the city plans to allocate service fees in the 3rd supplementary budget for 2025 and launch a research project to develop a distinctive development plan. In addition, starting in November, Paju will hold a "Paju Free Economic Zone Conference" targeting companies and organizations in the three strategic industries, launching active investment attraction efforts to secure demand for occupancy in the zone. The practical goal at this stage is to complete the application for Free Economic Zone designation by 2027.

A Free Economic Zone is a special economic area designed to attract foreign-invested companies and domestic reshoring companies. Once designated as a Free Economic Zone, legal regulations such as the total factory quota under the "Seoul Metropolitan Area Readjustment Planning Act" are eased, and resident companies can benefit from administrative and financial incentives including tax reductions, subsidies, and site support, enabling a stable business foundation.

Furthermore, Free Economic Zones allow for integrated development, including residential complexes, tourism complexes, and sports facilities, and are effectively the only areas in the Seoul metropolitan region where foreign educational institutions can be established. This is expected to significantly improve living infrastructure such as education and healthcare.

Through the development of the Free Economic Zone, Paju City aims to transition its industrial structure toward advanced industries and pursue integrated development that encompasses the region's vulnerable residential, commercial, educational, and medical infrastructure, positioning this as a core strategy for realizing a "self-sufficient city of one million residents." Looking further ahead, Paju plans to establish itself as a center for global economic cooperation in connection with the future Peace Economic Special Zone, completing its vision of becoming a "global business hub city" representing northwestern Gyeonggi Province.

Kim Kyungil, mayor of Paju City, stated, "Through the designation of a Free Economic Zone, we will create high-quality jobs centered on advanced industries and improve the residential environment by attracting international schools, international universities, and general hospitals, leading the way to becoming a self-sufficient city of one million residents. We will turn the region's borderland limitations into opportunities and develop Paju into a 'global business hub city' representing northwestern Gyeonggi Province."

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