Min Hyeong-bae, mayor of the South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City, speaks at a Cabinet meeting chaired by President Lee Jae Myung at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday. [Yonhap]
Min Hyeong-bae, mayor of the South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City, speaks at a Cabinet meeting chaired by President Lee Jae Myung at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday. [Yonhap]

Min Hyeong-bae, mayor of the South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City, said Tuesday that the special city would guarantee pre-sales for roughly half of the national industrial complex that Muan-gun has demanded as a condition for accepting the relocation of Gwangju's military airport.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have each agreed to build two semiconductor front-end fabrication plants in the Honam region — four facilities in total — with the area around Gwangju's military airport selected as a candidate site. To make that possible, authorities are pursuing a plan to relocate the military airport to Muan.

Muan-gun has demanded designation of a 3.3 million-square-meter national industrial complex as a precondition. Mayor Min said the special city plans to guarantee and support pre-sales for a 1.65 million-square-meter industrial complex — half the size Muan-gun requested. The integrated city also intends to attract tenant companies and investment to help fill the Muan national industrial complex.

Min made the remarks at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting after President Lee Jae Myung asked about the airport relocation. "There are three preconditions Muan-gun is demanding," Min said. "Two have been resolved, and the last one is a request to develop a national industrial complex" — at which point he outlined the pre-sale guarantee plan.

Muan-gun, named as a candidate site for the relocation, had earlier set out three preconditions: the prior relocation of Gwangju's civilian airport, 1 trillion won ($699 million) in support funding, and designation of a national industrial complex. The county twice boycotted meetings of the committee selecting a candidate site for the military airport relocation, insisting the three conditions be met first.

Of the three conditions, the prior relocation of the civilian airport and the 1 trillion won support package have won broad agreement from the government and the special city, with negotiations well advanced on both fronts. Progress on designating the Muan national industrial complex, however, has been slow.

Muan-gun is asking the government to designate a candidate site for a "RE100-based distributed energy specialized national industrial complex" on a 3.3 million-square-meter plot near Muan International Airport.

President Lee also rebuked Muan-gun for boycotting the selection committee. "There are things that have been agreed upon regarding the military airport relocation — why not just follow through on what was agreed?" he said. "When a national policy measure benefits the region, they should cooperate. What does it mean to say, 'If you don't do this for me, I won't cooperate'?"

Mayor Min said he would need to meet again with the Muan county chief to discuss the matter, but added that the broad outlines were being worked out.


joze@heraldcorp.com