An aerial view of the innovation district in Jung-gu, Ulsan, where public institutions including Korea East-West Power are based. [Provided by Jung-gu District Office, Ulsan]
An aerial view of the innovation district in Jung-gu, Ulsan, where public institutions including Korea East-West Power are based. [Provided by Jung-gu District Office, Ulsan]

Ulsan has laid out a concrete strategy to attract public institutions as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport pushes ahead with a second round of public institution relocations.

Mayor Kim Sang-uk chaired an emergency meeting Wednesday morning at city hall's seventh-floor situation room, gathering the administrative vice mayor, economic vice mayor, chief political secretary, relevant department heads and officials from the Ulsan Research Institute to map out a plan focused on drawing institutions aligned with the city's industrial base.

Ulsan has identified 40 institutions it hopes to attract, including energy-sector bodies — the Korea Petroleum Quality & Distribution Authority, the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning, and the Korea Energy Foundation — as well as Industrial Bank of Korea.

The city already hosts the Korea National Oil Corporation, the Korea Energy Agency, the Korea Energy Economics Institute and Korea East-West Power, and aims to build on that foundation by adding more energy-sector institutions to create what it calls a "complete energy cluster."

Ulsan outlined a phased campaign to secure the relocations, with plans to launch an attraction committee in early September, hold consultations with local lawmakers, enact a support ordinance, coordinate with the city council, and submit focused proposals to the central government and the National Assembly.

The city also agreed to link the effort to Ulsan's strategic industries, including the industrial AI transformation drive, and discussed a strategy to attract the integrated headquarters of state-owned power generation companies.

The Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy is pursuing a merger of five state-owned power generators amid an energy transition away from coal toward renewable energy: Korea Southern Power in Nam-gu, Busan; Korea East-West Power in Jung-gu, Ulsan; Korea South-East Power (KOEN) in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province; Korea Midland Power in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province; and Korea Western Power in Taean, South Chungcheong Province.

"The second round of public institution relocations is an important opportunity to secure Ulsan's future growth engines, going far beyond simply attracting a handful of agencies," Kim said. "Let us connect the characteristics of each institution with Ulsan's strengths and press forward with our attraction efforts."

The city plans to use Wednesday's meeting as a starting point to progressively expand its outreach to local political circles, the city council and the broader community.


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