PPP floor leader calls 800 trillion won Gwangju-Jeonnam semiconductor plan 'political engineering,' floats parliamentary probe

The People Power Party criticized the government's plan to invest 800 trillion won ($519 billion) in a semiconductor industry cluster in Gwangju and South Jeolla Province as "state-directed economics" driven by "political engineering," and signaled it may seek a parliamentary investigation.

PPP floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik, speaking at a floor leadership meeting at the National Assembly on Tuesday, took aim at the government's mega-project public briefing held the previous day. "The sight of the president flanking himself with the heads of major conglomerates while invoking an astronomical scale of investment is the very symbol of a state-controlled economy," he said.

Jeong argued that no amount of lofty rhetoric or rosy projections about building an industry powerhouse could shield the plan from criticism. "The decision to designate Gwangju and South Jeolla Province as the site for 800 trillion won in semiconductor investment — a sector on which the nation's strategic future depends — cannot escape the charge of political engineering," he said. "Before any official announcement of a location for this massive semiconductor investment, the name Gwangju and South Jeolla was simply thrown out one day out of nowhere."

He added that balanced regional development "cannot be achieved through such shallow political maneuvering and the coercion of power," insisting that local governments should compete fairly by offering incentives to attract businesses and that companies must be guaranteed the freedom to choose.

Jeong warned that if the government and the ruling party avoided addressing these legitimate concerns, "the opposition will have no choice but to seriously consider a parliamentary investigation." He added: "We conducted a parliamentary investigation over a 10,000-won salmon rice bowl — there is no reason we cannot do the same for an 800 trillion won semiconductor investment."

PPP lawmakers from Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province held a joint press conference at the National Assembly on Tuesday, declaring that "semiconductors are not a factory built on votes," and urged full disclosure of the investment decision-making process. They said they would launch a thorough review if the government failed to release its site-selection criteria and plans for securing power and water supplies.

"We are not opposed to the development of the Honam region — we are saying that politics must not interfere in the siting of a national strategic industry," the lawmakers said. "Semiconductors are not an industry that moves at the word of a president or on the political timetable of the ruling camp. Choosing a production hub requires years of review covering power, water, talent, land, logistics and the supplier ecosystem — yet the entire process behind this Honam investment push is opaque."

They also called on the government to explain publicly "why Honam, by what criteria, and how other regions were compared," and demanded the release of site evaluation scorecards, power supply and water procurement plans, land and permitting schedules, supplier relocation plans, logistics networks, environmental impact assessments and the basis for budget support.