Lee bets on 'mega-projects' to drive second-year agenda

President Lee Jae Myung has placed a high-stakes bet on three "mega-projects" to propel a leap forward in advanced industries. Following an initial announcement on Sunday, Lee unveiled investment plans for the southwestern region in Gwangju on Monday, with public briefings on advanced industry development scheduled for Wednesday in Asan and Thursday in Jinju.

The week-long tour through the southwestern, Chungcheong and Yeongnam regions is seen as an effort to demonstrate sweeping commitment to advanced industry support and make the case for balanced national development. Analysts also read the initiative as a calculated move to secure public backing through the mega-projects and sustain governing momentum heading into his second year in office.

According to Cheong Wa Dae, Lee will host a "Chungcheong Region Advanced Industry Development Vision Public Briefing" in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, on Wednesday. Participating companies include Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Celltrion.

The following day in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, Lee will chair a "Yeongnam Region Advanced Industry Development Vision Public Briefing" alongside Samsung Electronics, SK Telecom, Hyundai Motor and Hanwha. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have already announced investment plans worth 4,700 trillion won (about $3.04 trillion). Once this week's briefings conclude, the full scope of large-scale investment centered on the three regions — southwestern, Chungcheong and Yeongnam — is expected to take concrete shape.

At Monday's southwestern public briefing, Lee cast himself as the "investment control tower." He recounted personally persuading Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won to commit to the region, saying he had "induced — or, to put it more bluntly, enticed — large-scale investment in Honam," while adding, "There was no coercion or compulsion."

Lee said he would personally chair the Special Committee on Strengthening Semiconductor Industry Competitiveness and turn it into "a powerful control tower for southwestern investment." He had previously announced plans to establish a dedicated unit within Cheong Wa Dae to oversee the three mega-projects.

At the briefing, Lee set aside a prepared address and instead spent 20 minutes explaining the rationale for investing in Honam. He repeatedly stressed that the region meets siting requirements in terms of land, water and power supply, and rebuffed claims from some quarters that the southwestern region was receiving preferential treatment.

At a Cabinet meeting held the same day, Lee raised the industrial gap between the Yeongnam and Honam regions, acknowledging that "it is true that somewhat more investment is going to the Honam region," but arguing that "compared with the historically accumulated investment gap, it is no more than a drop in the bucket."

Through the mega-project initiative, Lee appears to be seeking tangible results for the balanced national development agenda he has prioritized in his second year in office. Some observers also interpret the push as an indirect message — ahead of the Democratic Party of Korea's national convention, amid intensifying intraparty tensions — that the party and government must pull together as "one team" for the nation's future.

Lee also repeatedly called for cooperation from local governments. At the Cabinet meeting, in remarks tied to the launch of the ninth round of elected local administrations, he said the new local governments "must become the starting point of a full-fledged era of balanced development," adding that "breakthrough, ultra-competitive strategic industry diversification tailored to each region's characteristics is needed." He urged all ministries to work in close cooperation with local governments and "spare no preemptive and wholehearted support so that companies that have made bold decisions to invest face not the slightest difficulty."