South Korean President stresses balanced regional development as key to sustainable growth
Seoul, Dec 8 (LatestNewsX) – During a briefing by the Presidential Committee for Decentralization and Balanced Development, President Lee Jae‑Myung stressed that spreading growth across the country is key to Korea’s long‑term prosperity and pledged tailored approaches to ignite new economic engines nationwide.
“Strengthening decentralization, balanced development and local autonomy has become an unavoidable national survival strategy for the Republic of Korea’s sustainable growth,” Lee said, echoing a theme he’d introduced a few days earlier at a town‑hall session in Cheonan, 90 km south of Seoul.
He pointed out that the government’s historical focus on funneling resources into the Seoul metropolitan area has hit a ceiling, and that the capital’s dominance now threatens the country’s overall growth potential. “The growth strategy centered on the metropolitan area delivered significant achievements in the past, but the excessive concentration in the capital region has reached a point where it is undermining the nation’s growth potential,” he added.
The committee laid out a plan to roll out customized development initiatives in five major regional hubs—Seoul’s metro area, the southeast, northeast, central and western zones—as well as in three special self‑governing provinces: Jeju, Gangwon and North Jeolla. Lee’s remarks come ahead of a series of policy briefings from ministries and public agencies, starting with the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Thursday.
In a separate address on December 5, Lee reiterated that balanced regional growth is a “strategy for survival.” “Balanced regional growth is important as a strategy for survival for the Republic of Korea,” he stated. “Concentration in the broader capital area has become a factor in severely undermining national growth and development,” he warned. “If concentration in the capital deepens, it will become impossible not only for growth and development, but also maintaining the status quo.”
Lee also voiced frustration over soaring housing prices in Seoul and its outskirts, attributing the issue to structural problems that simple policy fixes cannot solve. He called for the rapid relocation of government agencies outside the capital and the construction of an administrative capital to ease the burden on the city.
Highlighting another hurdle, the president blamed political conflicts of interest for stalling regional progress and suggested a cooperation model between South Chungcheong Province and the city of Daejeon.
int/akl/
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