Mayor Kim Jongsik Talks About 'Eco-friendly Ships and the Future of Mokpo'

Government and Companies Accelerate Creation of a Hub to Capture the $270 Trillion Global Market at Mokpo Namhang Port

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Seung-hyun Jeong] Kim Jong-sik, mayor of Mokpo City, expressed a strong determination to foster the eco-friendly shipbuilding industry as Mokpo's future growth engine.

At the regular August meeting held on the 2nd, Mayor Kim detailed the background and significance of the ‘Industry-Academia-Research-Government Agreement for the Creation of an Eco-Friendly Shipbuilding Ecosystem’ signed on the 28th of last month. He emphasized overcoming the difficulties faced by citizens due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic by providing hope through the eco-friendly shipbuilding industry and other renewable energy industries, and further urged overcoming the situation where local extinction is a concern.

Mayor Kim stated, “The global eco-friendly ship market is estimated to be approximately 270 trillion won,” and emphasized, “The core of this agreement is to develop Mokpo South Port into a world-class eco-friendly ship cluster with the goal of Korea leading the global eco-friendly ship market.”

He continued, “Investments from large corporations will be made, and a campus for training specialized personnel is planned. A budget of 90 billion won has been secured for projects developing electric-powered ships and eco-friendly fuels. The full-cycle innovative technology development project, covering everything from technology development to commercialization, has passed the preliminary feasibility study. This lays the foundation for the eco-friendly shipbuilding industry to grow alongside the offshore wind power industry as a new future industry for Mokpo,” he said emphatically.

Furthermore, Mayor Kim encouraged, “To achieve sustainable development amid the risk of local extinction, a clear vision and goals are necessary. Mokpo is transforming its competitively advantageous resources into industries linked with government policies,” and urged, “Let us work harder to foster the three major future strategic industries?renewable energy industry, seafood food industry, and tourism industry?to bring hope to citizens struggling due to COVID-19 and to future generations.”