GEOJE — The city of Geoje in South Gyeongsang Province, hit hard by torrential rain during the Liberation Day holiday, is pouring its resources into recovery. Mayor Byun Kwang-yong plans to use the area's designation as a special disaster zone to clean up the flood damage quickly, while over the longer term focusing city policy on turning the shipbuilding boom into new energy for the local economy. The goal is to break a "recession amid boom," in which the shipyards have grown busy again but neighborhood businesses have yet to feel any recovery.
Meeting recently with The Seoul Economic Daily, Mayor Byun said, "The scope and scale of this flooding were too great for a local government to handle with its administrative capacity and finances alone, but the special disaster zone declaration has eased the burden of repairing public facilities and will help residents return to normal life sooner." He added, "Blind spots still remain, so we will carefully attend to the follow-up procedures."
Byun became Geoje's first three-term head of local government by defeating the runner-up candidate by 21.19 percentage points in the June 3 local elections. The top priority he has set is ending the recession amid boom. His plan is to move beyond a situation in which shipbuilding has revived but the local commercial district remains in a slump, and to spread the benefits of industrial growth to residents' lives and small businesses.
Byun pointed to the foreign-centered workforce as one cause of the gap between shipbuilding and the local economy. During the shipbuilding downturn, foreign workers filled the places left by departing skilled domestic workers and young people, and about 16,000 people now work in Geoje, centered on the two major shipyards and their subcontractors. With a large share of their income sent back to their home countries or spending concentrated in a few sectors, some locally even say the biggest place people spend money is Daiso.
"Shipbuilding growing on its own cannot revive the local economy," Byun noted. "The key is to increase skilled domestic workers and settle them in the area, creating a virtuous cycle in which the fruits of industrial growth lead to higher spending and a larger resident population."
To this end, Geoje has signed a regional shared-growth agreement with Hanwha Ocean (042660.KS) and Samsung Heavy Industries and has begun drawing up cooperation plans. Hanwha Ocean subsequently signed an agreement to hire 20 prospective graduates of Geoje College and Geoje Technical High School each year as local talent. Byun explained that this is a first step toward building a structure in which companies cultivate and hire talent within the region.
"We are continuously proposing to the government that it adjust the shipbuilding foreign-worker visa (E-7) quota, which has been expanded to 30%, to fit reality and improve the system so that hiring of domestic workers can be expanded," Byun said. "With companies, we are focusing on drawing up practical shared-growth measures such as fair dealing between prime contractors and subcontractors, cultivating local talent and boosting local spending."
He also signaled his intention to meet directly with Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee and Hanwha Group Vice Chairman Kim Dong-kwan to discuss regional shared-growth measures. "We have been pursuing meetings with the controlling shareholders since last year, and made a formal request again after the ninth popularly elected term began," Byun said. "I want to explain Geoje's reality directly and discuss ways for companies and the region to grow together."
The city will also revive plans to create a regional shared-growth fund. It plans to work out measures for joint regional growth through public-private discussions with the two major shipyards. Using the Southern Inland Railway and the Gadeok New Airport as new growth axes, the city will also pursue development of the areas around stations and the creation of a satellite city behind the airport.
The centerpiece of the long-term urban growth strategy is the "Corporate Innovation Park." The project has companies lead development to create a mixed-use city with industrial, tourism, residential and educational functions, and in 2024 Geoje was selected as the first site for the Corporate Innovation Park pilot project pursued by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Domestic companies including Naver Cloud plan to invest about 1.5 trillion won ($1.1 billion), and Geoje aims to apply to the ministry for approval of an integrated development plan in the second half of this year, receive final approval in the second half of next year and break ground.
"Depending on whether these projects succeed or fail, Geoje could look very different 10 or 20 years from now, so we must lay the foundation for change and build a base on which the next generation can unfold a bigger future," Byun stressed. "I will take responsibility for my promises to residents to the end and become a leader who steps forward to solve problems, the harder they are."
