Gangwon Province Governor Woo Sang-ho visited the National Assembly on Wednesday, meeting in succession with Minister of Planning and Budget Park Hong-keun, Budget and Accounts Special Committee Chairman Lee Gwang-jae and Democratic Party Policy Committee Chairman Kwon Chil-seung to press for national funding for the province's key projects in next year's budget.
The meetings came as the Assembly's budget deliberations got underway in earnest, with Gangwon Province seeking additional national funding for projects left out of the government's initial budget proposal.
Woo asked the Assembly to support construction of an expressway linking Pocheon and Cheorwon, a project aimed at expanding infrastructure in the border region. With the announcement of a preliminary feasibility study result imminent, the province said securing the budget now would allow it to accelerate the project once the study clears.
Woo also proposed 2.8 billion won in funding to build a high-power quality reliability assessment system for AI data centers, tied to the GS AI data center project in Donghae — a campaign pledge of the governor — to establish an evaluation and certification framework supporting the stable operation of the facility.
On future growth engines in healthcare and biotech, Woo proposed three initiatives: 240 million won to build a natural products commercialization innovation center in Gangneung to serve as a research hub for natural products industrialization; 1.05 billion won to establish an antibody drug process development and verification testbed to nurture a small- and mid-sized contract development and manufacturing organization hub within the biotech special zone; and 3.2 billion won for an AI transformation project outside the four designated regions to serve as a preliminary validation platform for large-scale national healthcare and wellness AI transformation initiatives.
Woo also strongly urged an increase in national funding to add Gangwon National University to the "Build 10 Seoul National Universities" project, aimed at stemming the outflow of local talent and narrowing the education gap with the Greater Seoul area.
The governor further proposed 5.1 billion won to build an integrated public transportation system for Gangwon Province to reduce transportation disparities between regions and improve residents' mobility, and 500 million won for a feasibility study and master plan for a clean energy highway project in the province's border region to advance renewable energy development there.
"The projects we proposed today address the province's pressing needs — from infrastructure expansion to AI data centers, biotech, healthcare and education — and are essential to securing our growth engines," Woo said. "We ask for the active attention and support of the National Assembly and the government."
Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Lee responded that the issues had been discussed in depth at a ruling party-government budget policy consultation in September, and pledged to review them carefully to ensure the necessary national funding is reflected.
Minister Park said he sympathized with the need for the proposed projects and would review them favorably.
Gangwon Province said it plans to devote all its efforts to the Assembly's budget deliberations — defending funding already secured and pushing for additional allocations for projects not yet included — until the review of the government's budget proposal is complete.
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