Gyeongbuk Governor Lee Cheol-woo has set the establishment of the "Gyeongbuk Investment Agency" and the construction of an East Coast Energy Economic Belt as core tasks for his ninth popularly elected term. His vision is to create the first local government investment platform to serve as seed money for advanced industries and regional development projects, and to redraw the map of corporate investment and industry by leveraging an energy foundation that includes large nuclear power plants and regional electricity rates.
In a recent interview with The Seoul Economic Daily, Lee said, "By establishing the Gyeongbuk Investment Agency, the first local government investment platform, we will pursue the attraction of advanced industries and regional development projects swiftly and boldly." He believes a foundation is being laid to draw in energy-intensive advanced companies through the attraction of a new large nuclear power plant in Yeongdeok and the implementation of regional electricity rate systems. While Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have concentrated their semiconductor investments in the Honam region, making Gyeongbuk appear sidelined for now, Lee's view is that "in the end, the region that is prepared succeeds."
Lee won a third term in the June 3 local elections, once again securing a stable foundation for running the Gyeongbuk provincial government. The establishment of the Gyeongbuk Investment Agency was one of the key pledges he made during the campaign. It is a specialized investment finance company fully capitalized by Gyeongbuk Province, structured to reduce the private sector's business risk by injecting seed funding into various projects through dedicated funds.
There have been cases of investment firms limited to venture investment established at the metropolitan government level, but Gyeongbuk is the first to pursue a platform that also encompasses regional development investment. "We will provide systematic support from project discovery to financial structure design and investor matching," Lee explained. "We will create an environment where companies can invest in Gyeongbuk more easily and safely, and grow it into a practical investment model that leads regional development."
Gyeongbuk Province will soon begin a feasibility study for the establishment of the investment firm, and aims to launch it next year after going through administrative procedures such as approval from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the enactment of operating ordinances. Once the investment firm opens, it plans to pursue all-around investment including the construction of industrial infrastructure. Lee explained, "We will pursue projects to build the so-called four foundry (contract manufacturing) bases—industrial hemp in Andong, robotics in Pohang, and semiconductors and quantum in Gumi—and actively invest in building four large-scale AI data centers centered on Pohang and Gumi." In tourism, he plans to create a new growth axis for East Coast tourism by investing in the construction of "one hotel per city and county" and in a national cruise business connecting Busan, Ulsan, Pohang and Sokcho with Ulleung and Dokdo.
Gyeongbuk Province has already accumulated experience in seed investment using regional revitalization funds. Representative examples include the Gumi Youth Dream Tower and the Gyeongju hydrogen fuel cell power generation project, where it drew in private investment by injecting initial funding. Lee stressed, "Based on our experience so far, we will create a more organized and sustainable investment system through the investment agency."
Strengthening the energy foundation is another pillar of the ninth-term strategy. Gyeongbuk, home to 13 of the 26 nuclear reactors operating in Korea, is currently building Shin-Hanul Units 3 and 4. If two additional large nuclear plants are attracted to Yeongdeok, the province will have a total of 17 reactors. "Gyeongbuk, which already has the highest power self-sufficiency rate in the country, will emerge as a key axis of energy supply," Lee said. "Whereas in the past the provinces were confined to the role of supplying energy to the metropolitan area, in the future it will be an era in which advanced industries grow together in energy-producing regions."
Lee's vision for the "East Coast Energy Economic Belt" is to bind this energy foundation into a single industrial axis. "We will connect the nuclear plants and the nuclear hydrogen national industrial complex in Uljin, the new large nuclear plant in Yeongdeok, the steel and hydrogen industries in Pohang, and the small modular reactor (SMR) industry base in Gyeongju into a single industrial axis to complete the East Coast Energy Economic Belt," he said.
He also sees the introduction of regional electricity rate systems as an opportunity for Gyeongbuk. It is a policy that applies relatively low rates to regions that produce a lot of electricity and appropriate rates to regions where consumption is concentrated. Lee forecast, "It can be not merely a rate adjustment but a new means of balanced regional development that induces corporate investment into energy-producing regions."
He also cited the fostering of tourism and the agri-food industry as areas to be pursued intensively during the ninth term. "Meeting the 'post-APEC' era, we will invigorate international tourism, and brand and export a food industry based on regional agricultural and fishery products to grow it into a new growth industry," he said. "We will develop cultural, arts and tourism sectors and the food industry into core axes of the fifth industrial revolution era and connect them to jobs."
He also presented his vision on the pending issues of the Daegu-Gyeongbuk administrative integration and airport construction. For administrative integration, the goal is to complete the enactment of a special law and institutional arrangements by next year and launch the "Daegu-Gyeongbuk Special City" in line with the 2028 general election schedule. Regarding the controversy over the terms of office of heads and council members, he explained, "We can adjust only the term of the first integrated special city mayor to two years, and have basic and metropolitan council members carry over their seats to guarantee their terms until 2030."
Regarding the method of airport construction, he takes the position of continuing consultations with Daegu City, which argues for conversion into a national project. "If we review all procedures again for conversion into a national project, delays in the project are inevitable," Lee said. "If Daegu and Gyeongbuk together inject initial project funding to show their will to proceed, we can sufficiently draw in central government support and private investment."
HE is…
△Born in 1955 △Graduated from the Department of Mathematics Education, College of Education, Kyungpook National University △Master's in political science, Graduate School of Public Administration, Yonsei University △Member of the 18th, 19th and 20th National Assembly (Gimcheon, Gyeongbuk) △16th Chairman of the Governors Association of Korea △Gyeongbuk Governor for the 7th, 8th and 9th popularly elected terms
