Jo Incheol: "Jeonnam-Gwangju Special City Needs Regulatory, Fiscal, and Tax Exemptions Such as a Mega Sandbox"

"Anchor Companies Must Relocate for Five Axes and Three Special Zones to Succeed"
Positive Response from Prime Minister Kim Minseok During National Assembly Interpellation

Cho Incheol, Member of the National Assembly

Jo Incheol, a lawmaker of the Democratic Party of Korea (representing Gwangju Seo-gu Gap), once again stressed the need to designate Gwangju and South Jeolla Province as a mega sandbox and to introduce bold fiscal and tax policies to ensure the success of the "Five Axes and Three Special Zones" strategy.

On the 11th, speaking at the plenary session of the National Assembly, Assemblyman Jo said, "The President has said he will develop Gwangju into an AI-centered city, but the relocation of anchor companies that are supposed to play a key role in this is extremely sluggish," and expressed concern that, "Unless there is exceptional support that makes it clear companies will receive uniquely attractive benefits if they move to the regions, they will not relocate out of the Seoul metropolitan area."

He went on to say, "The government has promised to provide 5 trillion won per year to the integrated special city, but in addition to that, sufficient deregulation measures must be included as special provisions."

On this day, during the government questioning session in the education, society, and culture sector at the National Assembly, Assemblyman Jo posed intensive questions to Prime Minister Kim Minseok on the Lee Jaemyung administration's balanced development strategy of Five Axes and Three Special Zones, making these remarks.

Jo's line of questioning was aimed at firmly establishing the clear status of the new integrated Gwangju-South Jeolla Special City to be launched in the first half of the year, drawing a clear line against some voices that distort corrective "special cases" to address discrimination as "special favors," and once again confirming the Lee Jaemyung administration's policy commitment to region-led growth as a national agenda.

Prime Minister Kim Minseok, responding to the questions, expressed agreement with Assemblyman Jo's points and promised a positive review.

Assemblyman Jo said, "After overcoming the rebellion and returning Korea to normalcy, the next task for our country is balanced regional development," and he called for three key measures to ensure its success: a fundamental shift in the administrative paradigm; strong support through fiscal, regulatory, and tax policies; and exemptions from preliminary feasibility studies to build a wide-area transportation network for ultra-wide living zones.

On fiscal, regulatory, and tax policies, Assemblyman Jo proposed several measures to enable the regions to achieve growth on par with the Seoul metropolitan area: raising the local allocation tax rate by 5 percentage points; creating a new ultra-wide special account within the Special Account for Regional Development; and applying regional regulatory sandboxes and negative regulation by zone.

Citing the examples of Texas and Nevada in the United States, which attracted Tesla by offering virtually tax-exempt levels of corporate tax benefits, Assemblyman Jo stressed, "To ensure anchor companies can put down roots in the regions, the tax policy in those regions must be far more exceptional than in the Seoul metropolitan area." He added that the government should consider introducing "differentiated corporate tax."

Finally, regarding the creation of ultra-wide living zones, Assemblyman Jo said, "For the Five Axes and Three Special Zones to succeed, transportation networks must be built to allow 60-minute living zones within each region, rather than centering everything on Seoul," and emphasized that "these transportation network expansion projects must be accompanied by exemptions from preliminary feasibility studies and swift implementation."

Assemblyman Jo also said, "With only the currently operating 'Committee for the Era of Local Autonomy' and the 'Task Force for Fiscal Support to Local Governments,' there are limits to fully accomplishing the mission of the Five Axes and Three Special Zones," and proposed, "Let us establish and operate a 'Regional Balanced Development Agency' similar to the Multifunctional Administrative City Construction Agency or the Saemangeum Development and Investment Agency."

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kim Minseok stated, "We are moving in the direction you (Assemblyman Jo) mentioned, and in the case of this wide-area integration in particular, we intend to lift as many regulations as possible through special regulatory exemptions, except for those unavoidable regulations that must be maintained uniformly nationwide. We will resolve the issues step by step through compromise."

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