The government said it has decided to develop an industrial complex on the site of the Gwangju military airport as part of a plan to build a Honam-region semiconductor cluster. A fighter jet from the 1st Fighter Wing flies over the Gwangju military airport area. [Yonhap]
The government said it has decided to develop an industrial complex on the site of the Gwangju military airport as part of a plan to build a Honam-region semiconductor cluster. A fighter jet from the 1st Fighter Wing flies over the Gwangju military airport area. [Yonhap]

The government plans to soon announce which public institutions will be relocated to the regions in the second round of transfers, with individual relocation plans to follow and leading-transfer procedures to begin. To boost regional tourism, the government will also work to attract foreign visitors through regional airports. A new fund worth 10 trillion won will be established to drive innovation in the construction industry.

Public institution relocation at heart of '5 Poles, 3 Special Zones' plan; presidential office move also on track

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport laid out these plans Thursday in a briefing to President Lee Jae Myung under the theme "Building the Future, Connecting Everyone." The ministry said it will push ahead without delay on public institution relocations as a cornerstone of the Lee government's "5 Poles, 3 Special Zones" strategy — a blueprint to redesign the country's spatial structure, overcome the concentration of power in the Greater Seoul area and achieve balanced national growth.

A ministry official said the second round of relocations was prompted by calls from the field that regions lack quality jobs for young people. "The minister mentioned he hoped to have an outline ready by September, but no specific timeline has been set yet," the official said.

The government also plans to build advanced cities that channel corporate investment into regional growth. The plan calls for providing companies with industrial complex sites of their choosing and developing "corporate advanced cities" where residential, cultural, research and education functions coexist. Transportation infrastructure will be built to put homes within about 30 minutes of industrial complexes, and fast-track procedures — including streamlined approvals — will enable customized, rapid supply on companies' preferred schedules. As a first step, the government will move quickly to develop a Honam-region semiconductor hub anchored by the former Gwangju military airport site.

President Lee Jae Myung questions agency heads at a ministry briefing held Wednesday at Cheong Wa Dae's Yeongbingwan. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung questions agency heads at a ministry briefing held Wednesday at Cheong Wa Dae's Yeongbingwan. [Yonhap]

The relocation of the presidential office to Sejong will also proceed as planned. The government will announce a phased relocation plan for central administrative agencies in the Greater Seoul area before the end of this year, while focusing on developing a national symbolic zone and expanding industrial infrastructure.

Saemangeum will be developed into an innovation hub centered on robotics, AI and hydrogen, with plans to build a 100-percent renewable energy industrial complex and improve transportation and residential conditions. The government will also push to establish the country's first AI-specialized pilot cities in Wonju and Cheonan-Asan to test AI technologies.

To ease transportation inconveniences in the regions, the government will pursue construction of new regional airports — including those at Gadeokdo, the Daegu-Gyeongbuk area and Saemangeum — on top of existing rail and road projects. In the second half of this year, the Taehwagang–North Ulsan metropolitan railway, the Yangsan urban railway and the Busan Grand Bridge are set to open or break ground. On the road side, expressways linking Gangjin to Gwangju, Hamyang to Changnyeong, and Inju to Yeomchi are scheduled to open, and construction of the Second Gyeongchun National Highway is set to begin — a string of major rail and road projects in the pipeline.

The ministry will also pursue transportation reforms to boost regional tourism. Regional airports will be developed into hubs for attracting foreign visitors, with aggressive incentives offered even at underperforming airports such as Yangyang and Muan to draw more international travelers. Plans include enabling direct payment by overseas credit cards on public transit, building an AI-based multilingual tourism transport information service, and cracking down on taxi fare gouging. A domestic terminal at Incheon will be added and KTX seat capacity expanded to make it easier for tourists to travel between regions.

Construction sites to become physical AI testbeds; overseas expansion support also planned

Beyond balanced regional development, the ministry said it will push hard to innovate the mobility and construction industries. It plans to draw up an "advanced transformation" strategy for the construction sector by the first half of next year, establishing systems for data production, distribution and use, commercializing physical AI-based production innovation and deploying construction robotics. The move follows calls from construction sites for government-led support in areas such as securing large volumes of data for physical AI technology development.

A new fund of around 10 trillion won ($6.72 billion) will also be created to help domestic construction companies expand overseas and move beyond simple contracting work. The government will co-invest with overseas sovereign wealth funds, state-run banks and global developers to identify high-quality investment and development projects.

For mobility innovation, the government will deploy 200 autonomous test vehicles in Gwangju — the designated autonomous driving pilot city — within this year, and introduce driverless demand-responsive transit in transportation-underserved areas and time slots to accumulate driving data. To commercialize urban air mobility by 2028, the government will draw up a pilot operation plan and pursue domestic production of key drone components.


hss@heraldcorp.com