Gyeonggi Province
on the Move

Gov. Kim says his provincial gov't strives to make the province a center of the Pan-Yellow Sea Economic Sphere

Marking the first anniversary of his inauguration as the fourth-term elected governor of local autonomy, Gov. Kim Moon-soo elaborated on his aggressive approaches designed to make his province 17 times as spacious as the capital, a land of potential and opportunities, a growth engine of the nation.
Kim, a pro-democracy activist-turned governor, has logged 61,598 km traveling, equivalent to one and half trips around the earth in the past year following his inauguration to crusade his mission. He touched on a wide range of areas, including steps to strengthen the province's sagging manufacturing foundation and explore logistics, services and digital content industries as well as attract FDIs. The following are the excerpts of his interview with NewsWorld - Ed.
Question: One year has passed since you took office as the governor of Gyeonggi Province. Will you tell our readers about the achievements your provincial government has made so far and plans in the years to come?
Answer: Even though I already know that the province has a lot of things to improve, I realize that the province is a land with potential and opportunity. Gyeonggi Province is considered a hub of growth that will drive the development of Korea.
I have worked for an average of 14 hours per day every day for the past year following my inauguration. I have made a total of 1,004 observation tours to sites or an average of 2.8 visits per day by traveling a combined 61,598 km, equivalent to one and half trips around the earth.
In an effort to step up our competitive edge and the quality of provincial residents'living, I have attached priority to such tasks as a relaxation of irrational restrictions over the Seoul Metropolitan area, investments into making traffic faster and more convenient, improving the water quality of the Paldang Reservoir, the source of tap water for 23 million residents, and construction of new towns and a top-quality new satellite city for the capital.
I still feel proud of myself in having accomplished such tasks as the introduction of a discount system for mass transport transit passengers, permission to expand six plants including those of LG Electronics and PanTech, the construction of fire stations in areas without such anti-disaster facilities as part of steps to build up a foundation of the province.
I believe that Korea's future depends on Gyeonggi Province, which takes the initiative in opening a bright future.
During my remaining term, I will implement tasks designed to enhance the province's competitiveness and fortify its foundation, which are considered not only to be essential for provincial residents, but also to bring benefits to all of Korea.
First, I will strive to eliminate or revamp irrational restrictions in the Seoul Metropolitan area including tap water, military and land utilization.
Second, Gyeonggi Province is seeking to develop a metropolitan free economic zone through collaboration among provinces and cities in the Yellow Sea area, build up the West Coast industrial belt linking Pyeongtaek,
Hwaseong, Ansan, Shiheung, Gimpo, Paju and Gaeseong and develop the Pyeongtaek Port as an export bastion to China as part of efforts to make Gyeonggi Province the center of the Pan-Yellow Sea Economic Sphere.
Third, we plan to expand railway and road networks in a bid to cut down on traffic congestion costs, estimated at 23 trillion won per annum, which are partly responsible for weakening competitiveness, while striving to construct new towns and a top-quality new satellite city. The provincial government is seeking to advance the launch of the second Gyeongbu Expressway and the second circular ring expressway projects in the Seoul Metropolitan area.
Lastly, the provincial government plans to develop Gyeonggi Province as a national center of culture industry. A culture content fund of 200 billion won will be raised to provide financial support to all fields ranging from culture content planning to production, distribution and consumption. Universities, business and research circles will team up to build up a culture content cluster. The provincial government plans to shift its paradigm on culture from the construction of such hardware as buildings to content-oriented software policy on broadcasting, games, animation, movies, records and character.
Q: Since your inauguration, you have been stressing the need to revamp restrictions on the Seoul Metropolitan area. Will you say about your efforts to lessen the corporate damage such restrictions can inflect and the achievements?
A: Not only the Seoul Metropolitan area but Korea as a whole have seen competitiveness declining due to restrictions. Korea has witnessed its gross domestic product ranking dropping from 10th in 2003 to 12th in 2005, while the Seoul Metropolitan area ranked 27th in a survey jointly conducted by Bucknell University and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in June of 2006.
Putting a curb on Gyeonggi Province, an engine behind the growth of Korea, is tantamount to standing in the way of the development of Korea, thus lagging behind other competitors.
Advanced countries have shifted their policy paradigm on the capital area from restrictions-oriented policies to strategic ways of stepping up the competitive edge and ensuring balanced regional development through decentralization since the 1980s. If the government sticks to an idea of balanced national development under conditions of applying the crew on the Seoul Metropolitan area, Korea would be thrown out of competition and far from achieving the goal of reaching $30,000 in per capita national income and being a business hub of Northeast Asia would be out of our reach.
Due to the restrictions, investments worth 51.34 trillion won by 53 companies have been put on hold, costing opportunities for creating 37,582 jobs.
In the past year, I have aggressively made efforts to awaken how serious restrictions on the Seoul Metropolitan undermine corporate activities. Such efforts have made some progress as Hynix has been given permission to expand plants. In this regard, I had 73 meetings with lawmakers and experts; submitted suggestions to the presidential office and agencies of the central government on 37 occasions; held 21 discussions and public hearings; issued publications on restrictions on seven occasions and provided support in legislating and amending laws and regulations on restrictions on nine occasions.
Given the rapidly changing circumstances facing Korea, which is sandwiched by China and Japan and the conclusion of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, we should reform restrictions to turn around our nation's competitive edge by departing from the obsolete perception surrounding restrictions on the Seoul Metropolitan area. About 86 percent of the Seoul Metropolitan area or 10,182 sq. km is placed under restrictions in accordance with the act on refurbishing and planning the Seoul Metropolitan area, topping a list of provinces and cities across the nation.
A report issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Dec. 31, 2006 showed that several countries once adopted policies of curbing the development of their capital area, but London and Paris discontinued them in the late 1970s and Tokyo followed suit in 2002.
It questions the effectiveness of Seoul's policy of curbing the development of the Seoul Metropolitan area. The theory that the development of the Seoul Metropolitan area should be curbed for the purpose of the development of other districts does not ring true, and such a policy has seldom translated into the growth of other regions and the dichotomic approach method that the growth of the Seoul Metropolitan area is contradictory with that of provincial areas should be rectified.
The way of ensuring a balanced national development is to give differentiated support varying according to regions rather than making direct investments into areas with a smaller competitive edge instead of better places with good investment efficiency.
According to a report by the Institute for Industrial Policy Studies, Korea ranked 23rd in 2007, one notch lower than 2006 in terms of competitiveness, lagging behind China, which placed 21st.
Q: You have unveiled a plan to construct a top-grade new satellite city, equivalent to Bundang. Will you elaborate on the necessity of the project and what is the planned eco-friendly and future-oriented Gwanggyo New Satellite City?
A: Gyeonggi Province sets its sights on the construction of an eco-friendly, low-density, self-sufficient new satellite city that can meet residents'needs in such areas as education, high-tech industry, transportation, culture and environment, forming a striking contrast to the existing bed-town satellite cities.
A housing area of 33 million sq. meters (10 million pyeong) needs to be secured every year to realize a goal of raising to 115 percent the housing supply target rate set by the Ministry of Construction and Transportation and Gyeonggi Province by 2015. Gyeonggi Province is the sole province in the Seoul Metropolitan area to supply 23.1 million sq.
meters (7 million pyeong) or 70 percent of the average housing area to be secured by the public sector per annum.
The size of Gyeonggi Province is 17 times as spacious as that of the capital, and the province has advanced construction technology and urban planning capabilities. The answers to stabilize housing prices and raise the quality of resident's living are to supply many pleasant, good-quality new satellite cities.
The planned Gwanggyo New Satellite City, the first such one to be built by such local autonomous bodies as Gyeonggi Province, Suwon City and Yongin City, will set an example of good-quality new satellite cities with the nation's highest afforestation rate of 41.4 percent, quite higher than 22.5 percent in Ilsan and 19.7 percent in Bundang.
Q: FDIs are projects Korea will have to continuously implement in order to create jobs and import advanced technology. Will you explain the fourth-term elected local government's policies to attract FDIs and the achievements it has made so far?
A: Korea's conclusion of a free trade agreement with the United States is forecasted to boost FDIs. The nation is projected to attract an average of additional FDIs ranging from $2.3 billion to $3.2 billion per annum in the next 10 years, equivalent to 20 percent to 30 percent of $11.2 billion worth of FDIs Korea attracted during 2006.
Restrictions hinder FDIs and job creation, so relaxation of restrictions is necessary to guarantee corporate activities.
Gyeonggi Province is striving to create an optimal climate for foreign investors by improving investment infrastructure and institutional systems.
During my career as the fourth-term governor of local autonomy, Gyeonggi Province aims to attract $4 billion in FDIs. The provincial government has landed 18 FDI projects worth $536 million during the period between July 1, 2006 and July 6, 2007, accounting for 13.4 percent of the target. Given the June 11 signing of a letter of intent on a $500 million investment by Interglobe General Trading LCC, the value of FDIs the province attracted rose to $1,036 million.
The provincial government maintains a policy of attracting foreign investments in such core high-tech manufacturing fields as semiconductors, LCD's and automobiles. It is also expanding foreign investment areas such as logistics and service industries, including digital content, airlines, medical, educational and tourism services, on top of manufacturing fields.
A civilian advisory corps for facilitating foreign direct investments, comprising of 20 experts from industrial fields, including the bio technology sector, has been commissioned, with an incentive system with a reward of 0.1 percent of the value of investments or a maximum of 300 million won being in place.
Q: Since your inauguration, you have toured foreign countries to attract foreign investments and promote exchanges. Will you speak about the achievements you have made?
A: Amid globalization and borderless and unlimited competition following the conclusion of FTAs the provincial government has been stepping on the gas to achieve the so-called locabalization - the province's strengthened diplomatic activities and achievement of globalization to secure an upper hand in competing with major international cities. In an effort to help the province go global, the provincial government has been conducting active exchange and collaboration activities with local governments of several foreign countries.
Since my inauguration, I have visited Asian, Middle Eastern and European countries, including Japan and China to attract FDIs and promote bilateral exchanges. During the business trips, I inked contracts on FDIs worth a combined $170 million, including a $100 million deal with Envio of Germany, together with a combined 500 million letters of intent.
Gyeonggi Province singed MOUs with foreign provinces, including Shandong, China and held meetings to promote exchanges.
I toured Japan on May 10, 2007 to participate in a foreign investment session for about 30 Japanese semiconductor and display firms.
I made the latest trip of Dubai and Europe between June 8 and June 16, 2007. While staying in Dubai, I inked a $500 million letter of intent with Interglobe General Trading LCC and toured mega-project sites, including Burj Dubai and Palm Island. During the leg to Europe, I concluded a combined $146 million contracts on investments by Envio of Germany, VCST of Belgium and Faurecia of France.
Q: Gyeonggi Province borders with North Korea. I understand you have much interest in implementing projects with North Korea. Will you explain the projects your province wants to carry out with North Korea?
A: The province, bordering with North, will have to shift its role from the victim of the Korean War to an advance center for promoting peace and unification.
The provincial government has maintained amicable ties with North Korea since 2005 when they launched a joint rice farming pilot project.
Gyeonggi Province is seeking to promote exchanges among Gaeseong & Gaepung, former parts of the province, now under control of North Korea, and Jangdan and Yeoncheon. The provincial government is proposing inter-Korean projects, including the one on the joint reclamation of sand at the estuary of the Han River. nw

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Kim Moon-soo gestures during an interview with NewsWorld.

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Kim holds an interview with NewsWorld President-Publisher Elizabeth M. Oh.
(right photo) Icheon is the venue of the annual Icheon Ceramic Festival, one of the globally recognized festivals in Korea.

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Kim elaborates on his provincial government's policies during an interview.