PM Kim vows bold fiscal support for corporate investment in regions

Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said Monday the government will put in place bold fiscal support measures to encourage corporate investment in the regions, mobilizing policy funds including the National Growth Fund and public financing to ensure sufficient capital is available.

Kim made the remarks while chairing the third pan-government steering council for the National Land Space Transformation at the Government Seoul Building. "We will actively support corporate investment by deploying every available policy tool to nurture the five-hub, three-special-zone growth engines," he said.

He also pledged to sharply expand region-led research and development support and broaden startup investment in growth-engine industries. "We will also ensure that the special act on mega special zones, which underpins all of this, is enacted within the year," he said.

Kim said the government will establish a framework of pan-regional special agreements to support the five-hub, three-special-zone development strategy. "Through pan-regional special agreement meetings between the central and local governments, we will ensure that locally driven pan-regional cooperation projects can proceed on a stable footing," he said.

He added that the government would work to dramatically improve living conditions in the regions, strengthening education and childcare systems as well as access to cultural and medical services so that workers at companies and public institutions that relocate can settle in comfortably.

Kim said a series of major projects tied to locally led growth and balanced national development would move into full swing in the second half of the year. These include growth engine announcements, large-scale corporate investment drives and a second round of public institution relocations — all prepared during the local election period.

"The great transformation of our national land must be built together by the central and local governments," he said, adding that the government would work closely with newly formed local administrations.