South Gyeongsang Province calls on National Assembly to fast-track aerospace city bill

South Gyeongsang Province sent a delegation to the National Assembly on Thursday to press lawmakers for swift passage of a special bill on building an aerospace complex city.

Vice Governor Park Il-ung led the delegation in visiting 21 offices at the National Assembly members' building, including those of lawmakers on the Land and Transportation Committee and the bill's lead sponsors, to explain the need for the legislation and seek their cooperation. The delegation also included the head of the aerospace industry division, a section chief and working-level officials.

The visit followed the government's announcement Friday of its vision to build a "South Coast Aerospace Industry Belt" at a national briefing on advanced industry development in the Yeongnam region.

South Gyeongsang Province said that to give concrete shape to the South Coast Aerospace Industry Belt plan, it must establish an aerospace complex city combining industrial, research and administrative functions — and that special legislation to underpin such a city must come first.

The delegation worked through the lawmakers' offices one by one. It visited the offices of Reps. Seo Cheon-ho and Moon Geum-ju, both co-sponsors of the bill from the ruling and opposition parties, to explain the legislation's intent, and asked members of the Land and Transportation Committee for their attention and support during the committee review process.

The province said the aerospace industry, like other advanced sectors such as semiconductors and AI, can become competitive only when research and development infrastructure, business clustering and residential conditions are developed together.

Simply expanding production or research facilities has its limits, the province said, making it necessary to build a complex city where companies, research institutions, support functions and talent can all converge. Sustained growth is possible only when industrial sites, research and development, and workforce training are linked along a single axis, it added.

The province stressed that building the aerospace complex city goes beyond a regional issue and connects directly to the national growth strategy. Nurturing the aerospace industry as a future growth engine requires an institutional foundation to support the industrial ecosystem and residential environment, and special legislation providing a basis for national-level administrative and fiscal support is essential, it said.

"The special bill on aerospace complex city construction is the starting point for South Korea to leap into the ranks of the world's top five aerospace powers," Vice Governor Park said. "As this is a task directly tied to the nation's future, we look forward to the National Assembly playing an active role."

Meanwhile, the province plans to schedule additional visits to Land and Transportation Committee offices it was unable to call on Thursday.