Goheung space launch vehicle national industrial complex plan reviewed; compensation to begin in 2027

[Financial News] Development is moving forward on a 1.52-million-square-meter national industrial complex in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, for manufacturing and researching space launch vehicles as part of the Nuri (KSLV-II) program.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT), the ministry held a meeting of the Central Industrial Complex Plan Deliberation Committee on the 27th and reviewed the plan for the Goheung Space Launch Vehicle National Industrial Complex. The complex will be built across 1,519,660 square meters (about 460,000 pyeong) in the Bongnae-myeon area of Goheung County. The project will cost 172.9 billion won and will be jointly carried out by the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) and Jeonnam Development Corporation from 2026 to 2032. It will house space and aerospace-related manufacturing, parts industries, and research and development businesses. MOLIT plans to finalize the complex plan following the review, begin compensation procedures in 2027, and complete construction within the set deadline.
Goheung County already has the foundation for a space launch vehicle industry. When the government designated its space industry clusters in December 2022, Goheung was selected as the launch vehicle cluster. At the time, South Gyeongsang Province was designated as the satellite cluster and Daejeon as a hub for space research and talent development. The Naro Space Center is located in Goheung, and a private-sector-only launch site led by the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) is to be built near the complex by 2027. The new complex will serve as an industrial base for launch vehicle companies to move into and provide research facilities linked to the Defense Space Test Center, becoming one pillar of a public-private space industry ecosystem.
Demand from prospective tenants has also been secured. In March 2024, 11 companies, including key anchor companies Hanwha Aerospace and Innospace as well as startups, signed agreements to move in. The Agency for Defense Development (ADD) is also expected to move in, in connection with the Defense Space Test Center being built near the complex. In a report in January this year, the Local Investment Analysis Center of the Korea Local Finance Association estimated that development of the complex would generate 295.8 billion won in production and 1,673 jobs.
Park Ji-hong, director general of MOLIT’s Land and Urban Affairs Office, said, “Designating the Goheung Space Launch Vehicle National Industrial Complex means establishing a hub for manufacturing and researching space launch vehicles in Goheung, which has the country’s only launch site, thereby creating synergies in fostering the space and aerospace industry and securing future growth engines based on advanced industries.” He added, “We will work to ensure the successful development of the Goheung Space Launch Vehicle National Industrial Complex through close coordination with nearby industrial and research institutions, including the Naro Space Center, the private launch site, and the Defense Space Test Center.”

[email protected] Jeong Gyeong-su Reporter