Daegu bids to attract public institutions in second relocation drive

With the government set to announce its second round of public institution relocations, Daegu city officials and local lawmakers have stepped up their campaign to draw agencies to the city.

Daegu Mayor Choo Kyung-ho and People Power Party lawmakers from the region co-hosted a policy forum at the National Assembly on Tuesday focused on strengthening Daegu's strategy to attract public institutions in the second relocation round.

All 14 of Daegu's National Assembly members jointly hosted the event, with the city government serving as organizer. The forum gave local politicians and city officials a platform to coordinate their policy response to the upcoming relocation plan.

About 100 people attended, including industry, academic and research experts, business support agency representatives and public institution officials. Discussions covered strategies for attracting key institutions, the case for relocating them to Daegu, and ways to link the relocations to regional industrial development.

Oh Jun-hyeok, head of Daegu's planning and coordination office, opened the presentations by outlining the city's vision as a hub for small and midsize manufacturing innovation driven by artificial intelligence. He highlighted Daegu's growth potential through five strategic industries — AI, robotics, semiconductors, future mobility, and medical and biotech — along with regional innovation hubs.

Oh also pointed to Daegu's strengths as a place to live, citing transportation, medical, cultural and shopping infrastructure that ranks among the best outside Greater Seoul, along with what he described as the country's top educational environment and relatively affordable housing — conditions that would allow relocated institution employees and their families to settle comfortably.

Park Hyeon-jeong, a research fellow at the Daegu Policy Research Institute, then presented a plan linking four clusters of targeted institutions to regional industries. She proposed building collaborative clusters connecting Daegu's specialized industries with institutions relocated in both the first and second rounds, as well as universities and research centers, to generate synergies.

A panel discussion followed, moderated by Ha Se-heon, a professor at Kyungpook National University. Panelists included Seong Tae-geun, Daegu-North Gyeongsang Province chairman of the Korea Federation of SMEs; Park Gu-seon, chairman of the Daegu-Gyeongbuk Advanced Medical Industry Promotion Foundation; Seo Jae-hyeong, director of the Intelligent Automotive Parts Promotion Institute; Park Gyeong-jun, dean of the AI college at Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology; and Yun Sang-hyeon, a senior research fellow at the Daegu Policy Research Institute. The group explored response strategies and concrete action plans for the second relocation round.

"The second round of public institution relocations is a critical step toward solving the problems of metropolitan overcrowding and regional depopulation, and Daegu is the ideal destination with its future industries and infrastructure in place," Mayor Choo said. "The relocations will strengthen national competitiveness and drive regional innovation. Daegu will take full responsibility for carefully tending to the quality of life and living conditions of relocated employees and their families."