Seoul's approval of a promotion plan accelerates follow-up steps, with support for AI and ICT firms from startup to investment and financing to create new-industry jobs
Yongsan-gu in Seoul has laid the groundwork to transform Yongsan Electronics Market — once a symbol of South Korea's electronics industry — into a key hub for AI and information and communications technology content industries.
The district said its "AI·ICT Content Industry Special Development Promotion Zone Promotion Plan," covering 290,325 square meters around Yongsan Electronics Market, received final approval at the third Seoul Metropolitan Government Industry and Special Development Promotion Zone Deliberation Committee meeting of 2026, held in late May.
A special development promotion zone is a regime designated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government to concentrate and foster strategic industries. Once designated, a zone is eligible for benefits under the Seoul Special Metropolitan City Strategic Industry Promotion and Enterprise Support Ordinance — including relaxed building coverage ratios, floor area ratios and height restrictions through district unit planning — as well as support from Seoul's small and medium-sized enterprise development fund, the establishment of enterprise support facilities, and the operation of various industry promotion programs.
The district has been accelerating work on the promotion plan since Yongsan Electronics Market, in the Hangang-ro-dong and Wonhyo-ro 1 and 2-dong areas, was selected as a candidate site for a special development promotion zone in April last year.
As a result, the Seoul Industry and Special Development Deliberation Committee gave final approval to the Yongsan AI·ICT Content Industry Special Development Promotion Zone plan after comprehensively reviewing the site's current status and recommended business types, support measures for owners and operators of recommended-business-type facilities, funding procurement measures, and zone management requirements.
The approved plan sets out four strategic pillars for building an AI and ICT industry ecosystem: establishing an industrial foundation, providing program support, building a growth base, and creating a business growth environment.
Specific measures include establishing an operations support center for the promotion zone to serve as an anchor facility, creating startup support spaces, providing exhibition and experience spaces for companies, running a range of AI and ICT employment and startup programs, and offering investment and financing support to activate new industries.
Following the approval, the district plans to proceed without delay with the remaining steps, including the formal designation of the special development promotion zone and the establishment of a district unit plan.
The AI·ICT Content Industry Special Development Promotion Zone around Yongsan Electronics Market is expected to be organically linked to the Yongsan International Business District and an urban regeneration innovation zone through pedestrian networks and residential and green spaces, generating synergies in which international business functions and advanced new-industry functions complement each other.
"The Yongsan AI·ICT Content Industry Special Development Promotion Zone will work in tandem with the Yongsan International Business District to emerge as a new-industry hub for South Korea's future, where jobs, residential life and culture coexist," Yongsan-gu District Mayor Park Hee-young said.
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
