Sejong City has recently secured investment commitments worth around 8 trillion won ($5.36 billion) from major companies including Samsung Electro-Mechanics and Aseong Daiso, the operator of the Daiso retail chain. Mayor Cho Sang-ho laughed off the feat with a joke — "I managed to hit three in a row" — before turning more serious. "Carving out time to communicate with those business leaders seemed to help," he said. "The old saying that sincerity moves heaven turned out to be true."
In an interview Tuesday, Cho said the Samsung Electro-Mechanics investment began with a simple visit. "Samsung Electro-Mechanics has a facility here in Sejong. Through an acquaintance, I heard they had some difficulties they wanted to talk about, so even though I was in the middle of setting up the transition committee after the election, I went to see them and listened — including to the various challenges they were facing," he said.
"Not long after that, a national briefing on the government's three major mega-projects was scheduled. A scale-up plan emerged, and the investment figure roughly doubled to around 8 trillion won," he added.
The day after Cho took office, Samsung Group announced a plan to invest a total of 140 trillion won across the Chungcheong region. At Samsung Electro-Mechanics' Sejong facility, 8 trillion won will go toward building a new production line for AI server semiconductor package substrates, along with expanded research and development facilities. Sejong City said the investment is the largest ever for a single project since the city was established in 2012.
Cho was equally modest about landing the Daiso investment. "Luck was on my side," he said. "A business owner based in Sejong reached out not long ago saying he had a complaint, so I went to meet him. It turned out his company had a partnership with Aseong Daiso."
"I listened to what he had to say and made a few suggestions, and they ended up increasing the investment by about 200 billion won to 550 billion won. As far as I know, Aseong Daiso is building a logistics center in Sejong," Cho said. The city signed an investment agreement with Aseong Daiso worth 550 billion won on July 1, the day Cho took office.
The third in the trio is Rainbow Robotics, a globally recognized robotics company. On June 30, Rainbow Robotics completed its new headquarters in Jiphyeon-dong's Sejong Tech Valley and relocated its main office there, marking what the company called the start of its "Sejong era." Cho recalled the occasion: "I attended the completion ceremony. Thinking it would be hectic on the day itself, I visited about a week in advance to introduce myself and had a long conversation with Rainbow Robotics CEO Lee Jeong-ho."
"Then on the day of my inauguration, CEO Lee showed up even though I hadn't even had a chance to invite him. I hadn't gone to see him expecting anything in return, but I was truly grateful," Cho added. Rainbow Robotics is one of the world's leading robotics companies, with a market capitalization of around 11 trillion won.
Cho said the results validated the direction he had set for his administration. "I launched the fifth term of city government with two pillars — completing Sejong's role as the administrative capital and strengthening its economic self-sufficiency — and within just two days we had achieved major results," he said. "Going forward, I will continue to develop Sejong into a global hub for advanced industries."
ken@heraldcorp.com
