"Not a Baseball Stadium or Mall, but Bio"...Mayor Oh Seungrok: "Nowon Will Graduate from Its Bedtown Image in 5–6 Years"

Interview with Mayor Seungrok Oh of Nowon District
S-DBC on Track, Aiming to Attract Big Pharma
Gwangwoon University Station Area Project to Realize a Work-Residence-Leisure City

"Nowon has always faced limitations since it was established as a city. It was designed as a place where people commute to the city center for work and come back in the evening just to sleep—a place planned for large-scale housing for both the middle and lower-income classes. Whether we liked it or not, it was a 'bedtown.'"

This is the very question that Seungrok Oh, Mayor of Nowon District, says he has never lost sight of during his eight years in office: "How do we break through the limitations of being a bedtown?"

"Five or six years from now, Nowon District will no longer be the same. It will transform from a bedtown into a compact city integrating work, residence, and leisure."

Already, 71 companies have submitted letters of intent to invest in the Seoul Digital Bio City (S-DBC), which will be built on the Chang-dong train depot site at 820 Sanggye-dong. The Gwangwoon University Station Area Development will take shape within the next three years. On March 20, we met with Mayor Oh, whose term has just over two months remaining. He laid out the achievements that have resulted from the strategic decisions he has made over the past eight years.

Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon District, is explaining the achievements and challenges of the 7th and 8th popular elections in an interview with this publication. Provided by Nowon District Office.

"What Nowon Needs Is a Bio Complex"…Five and a Half Years of Persuasion

Mayor Oh decided to focus on the bio industry for the Chang-dong train depot site (covering 247,000 square meters) right after taking office in the second half of 2018, during the start of the 7th popularly elected administration. At that time, there was significant support for building a baseball stadium or a large shopping mall.

"IT was centered in Pangyo, and Seoul had already designated Yangjae as an AI hub. When I consulted with experts, they said the bio industry offered the greatest potential for job creation." Although there are nearly 30 bio complexes nationwide, the fact that few have achieved clear success was seen as a paradoxical source of opportunity.

"The workforce for bio companies consists of people with master’s and doctoral degrees. It’s a battle of brains, not hardware. The average age of employees is in their 30s, and they care deeply about their living environment—even down to whether there are good restaurants nearby. They say they rarely go south of Pangyo."

It took five and a half years just to persuade the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Since Mayor Oh is a member of the Democratic Party of Korea and was pushing for a bio complex, the city government maintained an ambiguous stance for a while. After winning re-election in 2022, Mayor Oh accelerated the initiative. He even visited Kendall Square in Boston—the world’s leading bio and technology innovation hub—to study bio cluster models. Finally, in May 2024, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon officially announced S-DBC at a presentation held at Seoul City Hall.

"That was a historic day. Seoul City, local assembly members, and our district office all reached an agreement. We set the direction at the end of 2018, and it became official in May 2024—five and a half years later."

71 Letters of Intent to Invest…Relocation of the Driving Test Center Remains a Challenge

So far, 71 companies have submitted letters of intent to invest in S-DBC. Some of these are mid-sized companies with a market capitalization of KRW 400 billion to KRW 500 billion, and others are firms with 130 to 150 employees. At Seoul City's request, the specific company names have not yet been disclosed. The district office is responsible for attracting mid-sized companies, while Seoul City is handling the attraction of large corporations.

Mayor Oh said, "Just as LG and Lotte helped expand the Magok District, we also need to attract major bio companies. Nowon has excellent school districts, and the upcoming revitalization of redevelopment will greatly improve residential conditions, which gives us a competitive edge."

The long-term goal is to attract global Big Pharma—multinational pharmaceutical companies with annual pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical sales exceeding 15 billion dollars. These include companies such as Pfizer, Janssen, AstraZeneca, and Moderna.

"Korea's participation rate and speed in clinical trials are among the highest in the world. Global Big Pharma companies are very interested in this. Right now, many are based in Hong Kong or Singapore, but if the necessary infrastructure, such as international schools, is established, there is a strong possibility they will come to Korea."

The process for designating the area as an industrial complex is scheduled to proceed at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in the second half of this year. This designation is essential to provide incentives such as tax credits and increased floor area ratios for companies.

The final piece of the puzzle for completing S-DBC is the relocation of the Chang-dong Driving Test Center. This site, which must be developed alongside the bio complex, has yet to be confirmed for relocation. It was originally planned to move to Uijeongbu, and Nowon District has already secured an alternative site. However, since the illegal 12·3 martial law incident, the final discussions with the National Police Agency have not progressed.

Mayor Oh stated, "I hope to see this resolved before my term ends." The demolition of the train depot will be completed next year, followed by environmental remediation and the start of private construction. Move-ins are expected to begin between 2031 and 2032.

Nowon-gu Mayor Seungrok Oh and Johannes Pruehaup, Chairman of LabCentral, known as the cradle of bio startups, and CEO of Biolabs (right), met last November and gave a thumbs-up in front of the S-DBC site. Provided by Nowon-gu.

Adding 'Jobs (Work)' to the Foundation of 'Residence' and 'Leisure'

The Gwangwoon University Station Area Development will be completed before S-DBC. In three years, a Marriott Hotel, I’Park Mall, and the headquarters of Hyundai Development Company will be established there. Hyundai Development Company alone will bring 1,800 employees to the area.

Luxury brand shopping streets will be created on both sides of a 700-meter stretch, and when the Gwangwoon University Station on the GTX-C metropolitan express railway line opens, Mayor Oh predicts that the area will become a new hotspot for young people, like Seongsu-dong and Hongdae.

The reason Mayor Oh is confident about overcoming the bedtown image is the solid foundation of 'residence' and 'leisure' that Nowon already possesses. Through extensive redevelopment and reconstruction, the residential environment is being transformed, and healing infrastructure built over eight years—such as Surak Rest Area, Gyeongchun Line Forest Trail, Bulamsan Butterfly Garden, and Nowon Train Village—has rebranded Nowon. The youth-only sports facility "Jump" will also open soon.

Mayor Oh said, "With the Gwangwoon University Station area becoming a hotspot and the completion of S-DBC, Nowon will take a great leap forward. By around 2031, we will no longer need to refer to Nowon as a bedtown."

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