President Lee Jae-myung said on the 29th that the government's three mega-projects must "tie industrial park development and livable community conditions together from the very start of the project." The aim goes beyond attracting large corporate investment: young people and advanced-industry talent should move to the regions with their families, and local residents and small businesses should share in the fruits of growth.
Lee made the remarks at the third public-private review meeting on the mega-projects, held at the Blue House. "We must learn from the innovation cities, where few workers relocated with their families because living conditions were inadequate," he said. "The ultimate goal of the mega-projects is to draw young people and skilled workers to the regions in search of jobs, and to let every region and all citizens share evenly in the benefits of growth," he added. "This is not simply about building industrial parks. We must create a new model of regional development that brings together advanced industry, housing, education, health care and culture."
The session was the third monthly mega-project review meeting chaired by the president himself, and the first held since the Office of the National Strategic Investment Adviser, a dedicated unit, was established at the Blue House. Lee called on participants to "become one team around the dedicated unit and pick up the pace." While the previous two meetings focused on industrial park development and the infrastructure companies need for investment, such as power and water, the central agenda this time was creating livable communities.
"We need to first identify what is needed not only by the people who will work at these companies but also by their families, and then devise support measures," Lee said. "I ask the companies as well to actively offer their views, reflecting the needs of their employees."
Lee also said the southern semiconductor belt "expands the semiconductor growth model from the greater Seoul area to the entire country." He added, "What matters is organically linking each region's strengths: Honam as a production base, Yeongnam as a base for materials, parts and equipment, and Chungcheong for advanced packaging."
For physical AI and AI data centers, the emphasis fell on tangible benefits for the public and returns to local communities. On physical AI, Lee instructed officials to "speed up technology development and infrastructure building to produce results that the public can feel," and to "sharply expand testing and adoption in the public sector to lead the creation of a market."
The government is nurturing physical AI — in which AI moves and makes judgments directly in physical space, as in robots, autonomous driving and smart manufacturing — as a national strategic industry, while working to generate early demand at public and industrial sites such as manufacturing, logistics and care services and then spread it to the private market. In the three mega-projects the government announced in June, physical AI was selected alongside semiconductors and AI data centers as a core pillar to drive future industries.
AI data centers, too, will not simply be built in provincial areas but linked to regional economies. Lee asked officials to "draw up concrete action plans so that tangible benefits flow back to local communities, through measures such as cultivating local talent and involving local firms."
"Whether the mega-projects ultimately succeed will be determined not by the scale of investment but by how much people's lives actually improve," he said. "We must all pool our strength and wisdom so that these become projects that create new opportunities for young people, give the regions hope of growing again, and give the public confidence in the future of the Republic of Korea."
