Prime Minister Jeong: "I Will Personally Oversee Regulatory Free Zones"

Prime Minister Jeong Sye-kyun

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said on the 6th, "If seven additional regulatory free zones are designated through today's Regulatory Free Zone Committee, all 14 non-capital region cities and provinces will have regulatory free zones that leverage their regional characteristics," adding, "I plan to personally oversee the regulatory free zones so that they produce results and lead to balanced national development that revitalizes the local economy."

Prime Minister Chung made these remarks at the Regulatory Free Zone Committee held at the Government Seoul Office on the same day.

He stated, "The sectors have expanded from the existing future transportation, bio, energy, and information and communications to include robotics and new materials, and it is expected to establish itself as a key means to realize various new industry ideas in the regions," emphasizing, "The government will proactively discover and nurture necessary fields so that the national-level new industry development strategy and regulatory free zones can be effectively linked."

He continued, "We will provide comprehensive support including budget, tax benefits, and business consulting for the designated zones, and supplement any shortcomings through thorough performance evaluations."

In particular, he explained, "To ensure that challenging projects are evaluated and compete based on ideas and potential, we have newly established a dedicated regulatory free zone fund (42 billion KRW) to fully support the necessary regions and companies."

Furthermore, he added, "In the second half of the year, we plan to hold several 'Regulatory Innovation Field Dialogues' to directly hear the difficulties and suggestions from the field."