Soro-ri, in Ocheon-myeon of Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, southwest of Cheongju Airport, was a village that grew rice from the Paleolithic era — the world's oldest rice seeds were found there. For the past two decades or so, it has become a global production hub for next-generation batteries, the "rice of future industries." LG Chem built Ochang Techno Park, a mammoth battery production base, in 2004 and completed the world's largest secondary battery production line for electric vehicles seven years later. More than 40 other secondary battery-related companies moved in nearby, driving the K-battery boom.
If Ochang is the base for battery research and development and finished-product manufacturing, Pohang in North Gyeongsang Province and the Saemangeum area of Gunsan in North Jeolla Province have rapidly emerged as bases for materials, parts and equipment. In particular, they support production of cathode materials, anode materials and precursors — the blood and bone marrow of secondary batteries. Pohang began developing a 2 million-square-meter site in 2014 and attracted EcoPro, POSCO Future M and Energy Materials. Saemangeum, leveraging its expansive site and logistics infrastructure, drew investment from LG Chem, SK On, Eco&Dream and China's Huayou Cobalt.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held a meeting on the 1st to launch a project to build a "battery triangle belt" spanning the Chungcheong, Yeongnam and Honam regions. The aim is to boost synergy by organically linking the battery industry clusters in Ochang, Pohang and Saemangeum, which have operated with a division of labor among themselves. Initial plans are expected to include performance evaluation infrastructure to support the development of all-solid-state batteries and the construction of a demonstration center to back the commercialization of sodium batteries.
Building this "battery triangle belt" was a presidential campaign pledge by President Lee Jae-myung. At the time, Lee pledged that "at a time when profitability has deteriorated amid slowing electric vehicle demand and an offensive from low-priced foreign batteries, leaving the industry in crisis, we will foster the K-battery industry as the central pillar of a K-initiative that will lead the global market." Bold government policy is required to overcome the offensive from cheap Chinese batteries. Labor and environmental regulations must be eased so that new technologies developed through round-the-clock R&D can be commercialized quickly. The appeals of Korean companies that hold world-leading technology yet remain hobbled by regulation are heartfelt.
