Prime Minister Han: “Saemangeum completion target moved up 15 years to 2035 ... shift to public-led development”

[Financial News] Prime Minister Han Seong-sook said on the 28th, “We should bring forward the Saemangeum development target by 15 years, from 2050 to 2035, and advance development as much as possible during the current administration’s term so that results and momentum can be sustained.” The plan is to move away from the existing model, which relied on attracting private capital, and dramatically speed up the project by having the state directly lead reclamation and infrastructure development.

Prime Minister Han chaired the 35th Saemangeum Committee meeting that afternoon at the Saemangeum 33 Center in Gimje-si, North Jeolla Province, and made the remarks while reviewing proposed revisions to the Saemangeum master plan (MP).
Prime Minister Han declared, “Although the Saemangeum project has been underway for 30 years, reclamation and development have been delayed. Now we must increase the pace and effectiveness of development and deliver tangible results that people can feel,” adding, “We intend to shift from development that waits for private investment to public-led development involving the public sector.”
She went on to say, “Bringing the target forward by 15 years doesn’t mean simply changing the figures on a planning chart. It means rebuilding the development framework around businesses and regional industries under public leadership and devising feasible measures.” She strongly urged the relevant ministries, the Saemangeum Development and Investment Agency, and North Jeolla Province to work together as one team.
The key elements of the proposed master plan revision are to bring the target date—which had remained a long-term vision—forward to 2035 and to have the public sector lead the reclamation of a significant portion of the total area (169.6 km2), focusing on industrial and urban land in response to business investment demand. It also introduces the concept of a “strategic reserve area” covering 12.2 km2, to allow a flexible response to future business investment and demand for mixed-use development.

A blueprint to strengthen industrial competitiveness was also presented. Prime Minister Han said, “Development must evolve from creating land to growing industries,” and announced that industrial land would be greatly expanded from 23 km2 to 37.5 km2. The plan also calls for increasing renewable energy generation capacity from 7 GW to 10 GW and developing Saemangeum into a growth hub for future advanced industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and hydrogen.
In particular, Prime Minister Han referred to Hyundai Motor Group’s investment of around 9 trillion won, announced in February this year, saying, “It demonstrated Saemangeum’s feasibility. The ministries must proactively provide infrastructure, including electricity and water, so that the investment plan can be carried out without a hitch.” To that end, a plan was also fleshed out to rezone part of Block 3 of the agricultural and life sciences land (12.4 km2) for energy use.
Finally, Prime Minister Han emphasized “regional shared prosperity” and “environmentally friendly ecosystem preservation,” adding, “We must carefully pursue measures to preserve ecological value by managing water quality steadily, and ensure that Saemangeum’s industrial base and jobs spread across North Jeolla Province and become a new growth engine for South Korea.”


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