Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik on the 7th ordered a comprehensive policy package for knowledge industry centers, including conversion of building use and an overhaul of rules on which businesses may move in, citing a sharp rise in vacancies.
"Knowledge industry centers completed over the past three years have an average unsold rate of 27% and a vacancy rate of 44%," Kang said at a meeting of senior presidential secretaries held at Cheong Wa Dae. "In some areas, vacancy rates exceed 70%, leaving the buildings effectively abandoned as 'ghost buildings.'"
Kang attributed the glut to conditions around 2020. "Supply surged as excessive profit-seeking by builders and developers combined with indiscriminate approvals by some local governments," he said. He added that people were being harmed by false and exaggerated advertising, presale fraud and the subdivided resale of units. "What is needed is fundamental surgery, not a stopgap measure," he said.
Kang instructed the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to actively pursue conversions of building use and to revise the business categories and eligibility requirements for tenants in line with shifts in industry trends. He also called for a prompt overhaul of the management and oversight system to break the cycle of presales followed by neglect.
Kang separately told relevant ministries that industrial accidents involving street cleaners average 836 a year. He ordered them to examine how often exceptions are being made to the principle of three-person teams working daytime shifts, and to draw up effective measures.
