Changwon Mayoral Candidate Myeongsang Kang: "Masan Marine New City to Become K-Digital Content Industry Hub"

Myeongsang Kang, an early candidate for mayor of Changwon Special City from the Reform New Party, announced the Masan Marine New City project and the integrated development strategy for the original downtown area.

On May 7, at a press conference held at the city hall press center, Kang stated, "I am announcing an integrated development strategy to correct the chronic problems of the Masan Marine New City project and to redesign the next 100 years of Changwon's future."

He said, "The Masan Marine New City project has wasted enormous time and budget due to repeated failures in public tenders, legal disputes, and directionless development. I am committed to ending unproductive conflict, revitalizing the economy, and attracting young people, thereby redrawing the map of Changwon with clear goals."

Myung-Sang Kang, preliminary candidate for Changwon Special City Mayor of the Reformed New Party in Gyeongnam, is announcing the Masan Marine New City project and the integrated development strategy for the old downtown area.
Photo by Se-Lyung Lee

Kang first announced his plan to transform Masan Marine New City into a 'K-Digital Content Industry Hub.'

He outlined plans to attract game and digital content companies, establish an E-sports arena, and build an industrial ecosystem for these sectors.

He also proposed reimagining the night views of Machang Bridge and the original downtown area as tourism assets, creating a K-culture tourism hub by combining Hallyu-themed gardens and marine leisure activities to encourage longer stays.

Additionally, he pledged to connect Masan Marine New City and Dotseom Island with a bridge, and to turn the entire island into an outdoor virtual reality (VR) and gaming testbed, transforming Dotseom into an 'experiential content island.'

To attract related companies, he vowed to mobilize all administrative and financial support, including providing land free of charge or at cost, so that companies can confidently make investment decisions.

Furthermore, leveraging Doosan Enerbility's small modular reactor (SMR) technology, energy and power infrastructure, and seawater cooling conditions, he aims to attract data centers and game server industries.

Regarding the site of the closed Lotte Department Store Masan branch, Kang said, "We will boldly repurpose the department store site to attract businesses and provide incentives."

He also pledged to build a permanent indoor sports arena and broadcasting facilities capable of hosting global content such as UFC, mixed martial arts, and e-sports events year-round, as well as a library, startup center, and performance hall.

In addition, he noted that he would cooperate with the Gyeongnam Provincial Office of Education to jointly utilize land and discuss relocating the Korea National Open University site, aiming to restore the original downtown's functions.

Kang explained, "The Masan Marine New City site is 68% public and 32% private. The private portion will be strictly managed to ensure it is used as investment space for hotels, resorts, and tourism facilities, not simply for sales profit, and that facilities align with the city's vision of tourism and business attraction."

"The public sector will set the direction, and the private sector will implement it, but we will guarantee the quality of development through rigorous standards and management," he said. "I will redraw Changwon's economic blueprint so that Masan Marine New City and the original downtown—core assets that determine Changwon's future—become areas where young people gather, companies invest, and the city is vibrant even at night."

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