'No detailed support plan despite 800 trillion won in private investment'

People Power Party lawmaker Ko Dong-jin [Yonhap]
People Power Party lawmaker Ko Dong-jin [Yonhap]

By Jung Seok-jun, The Herald Business

Ko Dong-jin, a People Power Party lawmaker and former Samsung Electronics executive, criticized the government's semiconductor mega-project on Tuesday, saying the Lee Jae Myung administration's "detailed support plan" amounts to nothing despite private companies committing 800 trillion won ($519 billion) in investment.

Ko held a press conference at the National Assembly that day, saying the plan contained little beyond vague pledges. On power infrastructure, the government offered only a commitment to "quickly build connection lines for power grid infrastructure in the Honam region." On energy, it said only that it would "utilize abundant renewable energy and nuclear power plants." On water infrastructure, the plan said only that it would "quickly construct pipelines in the Honam region," and on water supply it offered only a pledge to "utilize multipurpose dams and alternative water resources."

On Samsung Electronics and SK hynix disclosing business plans that left open the possibility of changes to their investment schedules, Ko said it was reasonable to conclude that "the timeline for future semiconductor investment and the detailed basis for that investment have not been clearly decided."

He added that he could not shake the impression that the outcome was "something close to an illusion wrung out by fourth-rate politics twisting the arms and legs of world-class companies." Ko also noted that the semiconductor industry typically takes five to seven years for site review and selection. He argued that talk of investment in the Honam region became official through Cheong Wa Dae only after President Lee said last December that "companies should turn their eyes to the southern region, which is rich in energy sources" — and that this sequence was itself proof of that dynamic.

Ko warned that fabless companies and materials, parts and equipment firms — which he called the core of semiconductor competitiveness — are concentrated in the Greater Seoul area, particularly around Pangyo in Gyeonggi Province. If a semiconductor industrial complex were built in the Honam region, he said, logistics costs would rise and joint research and development as well as rapid technology support would become difficult, creating what he called "ecosystem and economic problems."

He also said the Lee Jae Myung administration was "abusing politics as a wrongful means outside its original purpose and wielding that power in a very bad direction." Ko argued that the true driver of industry is the private sector, and that elected political bodies — whether the administration or the National Assembly — should see their role as providing proper support for companies' infrastructure and operating environment from behind the scenes.


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