SEOUL, Dec 8 (Yonhap/APP): President Lee Jae Myung said Monday that balanced regional development is essential to South Korea’s sustainable growth, pledging to pursue customized strategies that foster new growth engines across the nation.
Lee made the remarks during a policy briefing by the Presidential Committee for Decentralization and Balanced Development at the presidential office.
“Strengthening decentralization, balanced development and local autonomy has become an unavoidable national survival strategy for the Republic of Korea’s sustainable growth,” he said.
He noted that the government’s past practice of channeling resources into the Seoul metropolitan area has reached its limit, underscoring the need for region-specific strategies to cultivate new growth engines.
“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 said.
During the briefing, the committee outlined plans to implement a customized development strategy for five regional hubs — the Seoul metropolitan, southeast, northeast, central and western regions — as well as three special self-governing provinces: Jeju, Gangwon and North Jeolla.
Monday’s session comes ahead of a series of policy briefings Lee is scheduled to receive from ministries and public institutions, beginning with the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Thursday.