Pohang City Battery Special Zone Achieves Nationwide First: Selected as Excellent Special Zone for 3 Consecutive Years

K-Battery Leading City Pohang Becomes National Battery Industry Core

POBATT (Pohang Battery) … R&D·Industrial Base·Investment Attraction

Battery Integrated Management Center.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] Pohang City has secured a super-gap competitiveness in the secondary battery (battery) industry sector, with the ‘Next-Generation Battery Recycling Regulatory Free Zone’ being designated as an excellent zone for three consecutive years nationwide, laying a solid foundation for a great leap forward as a ‘K-Battery Leading City.’

Actively responding to the global energy transition paradigm such as carbon neutrality and focusing all efforts on fostering low-carbon new growth engine industries, Pohang City, especially by leading the battery industry, has succeeded in industrial diversification. Following its role in driving Korea’s industrialization through the steel industry over the past half-century, it is accelerating its leap to become a global battery mecca city creating a new miracle in Yeongilman.

Since 2019, the ‘Next-Generation Battery Recycling Regulatory Free Zone’ designated jointly by Pohang City and Gyeongbuk Province has produced outstanding results among 29 special zones nationwide, being recognized as an exemplary case of regulatory free zones and designated as an excellent zone for three consecutive years.

Following the visit of Vice Minister Joo-Hyun Cho of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, officials in charge of regulatory reform and battery recycling from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Environment, and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry have continued to visit.

Starting with the designation of the special zone, Pohang City has achieved an unprecedented investment attraction performance of 3.3972 trillion KRW from Big 3 anchor companies such as EcoPro, POSCO Chemical, and GS Construction, as well as small and medium-sized upstream and downstream companies. Building on these achievements, the regulatory free zone is showcasing unique results nationwide and is establishing itself as the leading base of ‘K-Battery.’

The ‘Secondary Battery Comprehensive Management Center,’ completed last year, is becoming the starting point for Pohang’s leap as Korea’s battery leading city.

The center is setting new safety and environmental standards for the used battery industry through performance evaluation of electric vehicle batteries and comprehensive management technology research and development, establishing the national standard for the secondary battery recycling industry.

Pohang City is focusing on building a secondary battery industry demonstration infrastructure ahead of other cities and is promoting the designation of the ‘Ministry of Environment Green Convergence Cluster’ to foster the battery industry as a green new industry. It plans to leap forward as a regional hub for green industries by supporting the entire lifecycle of secondary batteries.

In addition, the city is sequentially carrying out the ‘Electric Vehicle Used Battery Resource Circulation Cluster’ project and the ‘Electric Vehicle Used Inline Automatic Evaluation Center’ construction project, thereby establishing a foundation to lead green industries as a national hub for battery resource circulation.

Going forward, Pohang City plans to build a ‘Secondary Battery Workforce Development Platform’ to solve the shortage of skilled and process workers in the industrial field. Through establishing an industry-academia-research governance, it aims to cultivate customized talent, enhance the national competitiveness of the secondary battery industry with global competitiveness, and promote the establishment of the ‘Korea Secondary Battery Industry Promotion Agency’ for policy planning and execution.

Based on the achievements of the battery regulatory free zone, the city is currently conducting a feasibility study for designation as a ‘Global Regulatory Free Zone,’ selected as one of the 110 major tasks of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration. It plans to scale up the zone through advancement to preempt the global secondary battery market and lead balanced regional development.

Through the organic linkage of the regulatory free zone, demonstration infrastructure, high R&D capabilities, and human resources, Pohang is accelerating the relocation of companies to the city, focusing on completing the full-cycle value chain from battery materials to recycling and manufacturing, and is poised to leap as a ‘K-Battery Industry Hub City.’

Mayor Kang-Duk Lee of Pohang emphasized, “We will concentrate all administrative power to attract 6 trillion KRW in battery industry investment by 2025 and 10 trillion KRW by 2030, diversifying the city’s industrial structure from steel-centered to low-carbon new industries including secondary batteries, and breathe new vitality into the regional economy.”