Korea East-West Power, headquartered in Ulsan's Jung-gu innovation district. [Korea East-West Power]
Korea East-West Power, headquartered in Ulsan's Jung-gu innovation district. [Korea East-West Power]

With the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport set to announce its second basic plan for relocating public institutions to regional cities by year's end, Ulsan is launching a citywide campaign to attract energy-sector public institutions and build a concentrated cluster. The city plans to form a recruitment committee drawing representatives from local industry, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and young job seekers who stand to benefit from public institution employment, with a launch ceremony for the tentatively named "Citywide Second Public Institution Recruitment Committee" scheduled for next month.

Alongside the launch, Ulsan plans to develop a recruitment strategy differentiated from those of other local governments and submit a formal proposal to the central government and the National Assembly. The city said it would strengthen its case by highlighting its distinctive residential infrastructure and the rationale for relocating institutions there, while also preparing concrete support measures — including the creation of a "welfare and cultural co-prosperity fund" for employees of relocated institutions.

According to the city, Ulsan has already submitted a list of 40 institutions it hopes to attract, compiled as part of a comprehensive survey conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. While the city declined to name the specific institutions, citing competition with other local governments, it is understood to be focusing on energy and new-industry bodies, taking into account the region's industrial profile and the public institutions that relocated there in the first round.

Ulsan is already home to Korea National Oil Corporation, Korea Energy Agency, the Korea Energy Economics Institute and Korea East-West Power. Building on that base, the city aims to attract the Korea Petroleum Management Institute, the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning and the Korea Energy Foundation to create what it calls a "complete energy cluster."

In a related push, Ulsan is also pursuing the consolidated headquarters of five state-owned power generation companies under Korea Electric Power Corporation. The five companies — Korea Southern Power (Nam-gu, Busan), Korea East-West Power (Jung-gu, Ulsan), Korea South-East Power (KOEN) (Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province), Korea Midland Power (Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province) and Korea Western Power (Taean, South Chungcheong Province) — are being considered for reintegration to improve operational efficiency.

Ulsan accounts for 52 percent of the combined power demand across the five companies' headquarters locations, consuming 30,099 gigawatt-hours of electricity, and hosts major power-intensive industries including automobiles, shipbuilding, petrochemicals and nonferrous metals. The city also possesses the industrial infrastructure to support the future business directions of state power companies — including hydrogen infrastructure, port and pipeline networks, floating offshore wind and AI data centers — positioning it as a key national energy hub.


cityblue@heraldcorp.com