Reps. Bok Ki-wang, Kwon Young-jin and Son Myeong-su
to co-host K-high-speed rail policy forum
'Balanced national development transcends party lines'
Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Bok Ki-wang, fellow Democratic Party Rep. Son Myeong-su and People Power Party Rep. Kwon Young-jin announced Friday they will co-host a policy forum titled "K-High-Speed Rail: Reviving the Heart of the Regions — The Future of Broad Economic Zones and Rail Networks" at 2 p.m. June 17 at Conference Room 9 of the National Assembly Members' Office Building.
The forum will bring together ruling and opposition lawmakers, government officials and academic experts to explore solutions to regional depopulation and the concentration of population and resources in the Greater Seoul area. Discussions will focus on ways to energize broad economic zones and strengthen the KTX economic corridor in line with the government's "5 Poles, 3 Specials" balanced national growth strategy.
The event comes ahead of the Fifth National Railway Network Development Plan, set to be drawn up this year, and will focus on rail-centered balanced development strategies and ways to cultivate regional growth hubs.
The forum carries added significance because Reps. Bok and Kwon — who served as the ruling and opposition floor managers on the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee during its first half — joined forces to co-host it. With Rep. Son, a rail and transportation specialist, also on board, the forum represents a cross-party effort to address the national challenges of regional depopulation and balanced development.
"Balanced national development is a national imperative that transcends party lines, and railways are the core platform connecting regions, industries and people to restore the growth engine of local communities," Rep. Bok said. "We will spare no effort in providing National Assembly-level support to ensure that the diverse policy proposals put forward at this forum are faithfully reflected in the government's Fifth National Railway Network Development Plan."
Rep. Kwon said that when regions decline, the pillars of national growth collapse and the Greater Seoul area itself struggles under the burden of overcrowding. "We need a national strategy that tightly links high-speed and wide-area rail networks to bind the entire country into a single economic zone," he said.
Rep. Son said railways are more than a mode of transport — they are infrastructure that connects opportunity and competitiveness across regions. "We must actively pursue rail-centered balanced development policies so that residents can enjoy equal opportunities no matter where they live," he said.
Sung Si-kyung, president of the Korean Association for Public Administration, will chair the forum. Choi Jin-seok, director of the Railway Economics Research Institute, will deliver the keynote presentation on supporting the formation of broad economic zones under the "5 Poles, 3 Specials" framework and strengthening the KTX economic corridor. Kim Tae-byeong, director of the railway bureau at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Ma Kang-rae, a professor at Chung-Ang University, and Park Byeong-seok, director of the land and spatial innovation bureau at the Presidential Committee on Balanced National Development, will join as panelists. They will discuss the formation of broad economic zones, rail hub development, mega-city rail network construction and the direction of the Fifth National Railway Network Development Plan.
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