Relentless Innovation and Change... Laying the Foundation for 'Gumi Re-Creation'

5 Major Future Strategic Industries, Drawing a New Economic Map of Gumi

A City Buzzing, a Romantic Cultural City Imprinted Nationwide

Innovation in Daily Life, a City Good for Working and Raising Children

The year 2023 was a year in which Gumi City drew a new economic map with the ‘5 Generations of Future Advanced Strategic Industries’ and was ‘a year of relentless innovation to leap into a new hopeful era for Gumi City.’

Leading with the attraction of the Defense Innovation Cluster (April 2023) and the designation of the Semiconductor Materials and Components Specialized Complex (July 2023), new growth engines for the economy were created.

The ‘5 Generations of Future Advanced Strategic Industries’ are semiconductors, defense, secondary batteries, robotics, and the metaverse.

Despite global economic uncertainties, it was a year that maintained momentum in investment attraction by achieving ‘corporate investment of 2.2348 trillion KRW.’

The ‘Gumi Food Festival’ and ‘Gumi Ramen Festival,’ presented with different planning from before, set new records with the highest number of visitors (150,000), highest sales (380 million KRW), and largest scale (downtown street festival). At the same time, the increase in sales for small business owners and the promotional effects for local companies led to donations and investments, forming a new culture of local festivals and imprinting the romantic city of Gumi nationwide.

The large-scale national project of 1.5468 trillion KRW for the construction of the Buk-Gumi IC to Gunwi JC highway became visible. By actively proposing the necessity of building a logistics transport road network in connection with the new airport relocation, early commencement of the preliminary feasibility study (October 2023) was led, resulting in a highway crossing the Gumi downtown east to west for the first time in 54 years since the opening of the Gyeongbu Expressway.

In addition, ▲ the opening of the Academic and Career Center ▲ stable operation of the 365 Pediatric and Adolescent Medical Center, etc., are transforming Gumi into a city where people want to work, enjoy, and live.

These innovative achievements are expected to serve as a good foundation to firmly settle on the full-scale track of Gumi’s re-creation and present a future blueprint for the new hopeful era of Gumi.

◆ The newly drawn Gumi New Economic Map with the 5 Generations of Future Strategic Industries

Designation of Specialized Complex for Semiconductor Materials and Components.

In 2023, Gumi City ran breathlessly to quickly respond to the rapidly changing industrial structure demands.

First, the attraction of the semiconductor specialized complex, the first proposal project of the 8th elected administration, was pursued with determination as Mayor Kim Jang-ho visited the Presidential Office and central government ministries 26 times since his election, with the mindset of laying the ‘cornerstone for the century-long plan of the regional industrial economy.’

As a result, despite the semiconductor ecosystem leaning toward the metropolitan area, Gumi’s ‘unique and definite strategy’ for win-win development between the metropolitan area and local regions gained persuasiveness, and it was designated as the ‘only’ semiconductor materials and components specialized complex in the non-metropolitan area (July 2023).

Gumi’s unique and definite strategy is to specialize as a supply base for core raw materials (wafers and substrates) in semiconductor processes and build a demand-supply type value chain.

Earlier in April, Gumi succeeded in attracting the ‘Defense Innovation Cluster’ after two previous failures. With a persistent spirit of resilience, the city was able to realize Gumi as the capital of K-defense new industries.

Along with this, Gumi was selected as the optimal site for large-scale national projects in new industries such as secondary batteries, robotics, and the metaverse, and is currently promoting five government projects worth 101.3 billion KRW.

Thanks to these achievements, Gumi City recorded results such as attracting investments of 2.2348 trillion KRW and creating 1,943 new jobs this year, while accelerating the discovery of on-site corporate killing regulations.

◆ The city bustling! Gumi, the city of romantic culture imprinted nationwide

Gumi Food Festival.

Romance began to flow throughout Gumi, which was once only known as an industrial city, with plenty of sights and things to enjoy. In October, the 2023 Gumi Food Festival (October 28?29, 2023), held at the Songjeong-dong covered stream shopping street, attracted an unprecedented crowd of 150,000 people, creating a sea of people.

This figure was five times higher than the previous year, setting an all-time record for Gumi City festivals and becoming the largest outdoor food festival in Gyeongbuk Province.

The participating businesses (71 locations) recorded total sales of 400 million KRW, and in the era of mandatory environmental consciousness, the festival was praised as a model event by reducing 3.6 tons of disposable products through the use of reusable containers and distributing 1,500 servings of bibimbap in ice cream cones.

Following the heat of the Food Festival, the 2023 Gumi Ramen Festival (November 17?19) attracted much attention even before it started, not only because of its unique ramen theme but also due to the participation of local commercial districts and global ramen companies.

Unlike last year’s event held at Nakdonggang Sports Park, this year it was held in the city center, connecting the road in front of Gumi Station, Saemaeul Central Market, Munhwa-ro, and Geumridan-gil, attracting a much larger crowd of 80,000 people from all over the country.

The timing and scale of the festival were also changed. It was moved from a summer festival (August) to an autumn festival (November) and was linked with small-scale events such as the Munhwa-ro Youth Festival, Wonpyeong Bangcheon Festival, and Christmas tree lighting ceremony, further enhancing the synergy effect of the festival.

A global ramen company producing 75% of domestic ramen in the region announced an additional investment of 10 billion KRW due to the high promotional effect, and the old downtown merchants’ association responded with a relay donation of gratitude, opening a new chapter in local festival culture.

◆ A city good for working and raising children

The city also focused on expanding medical, care, and educational infrastructure. The 365 Pediatric and Adolescent Medical Center, which provides specialist medical care 24/7, has seen a total of 8,501 children visit since January. The utilization rate exceeded the target (300 per month) by 150%, with an actual monthly average of 750 visits.

Notably, 32% (2,733) of users came from neighboring regions, establishing the center as an essential medical hub for children in the central-western Gyeongbuk area. The users came from Chilgok (1,149), Gimcheon (848), Sangju (242), Mungyeong (42), and others (452).

Recognized for stable operation, the center secured 300 million KRW in provincial funds for next year to further strengthen the essential medical system in the region.

To create a better environment for working parents, the city opened the first sick child care center in the province (October 2023). This service, which takes full responsibility from picking up sick children to medical treatment and returning home when caregivers are unavailable, has received great response from dual-income couples despite being in its early stages.

Education was also thoroughly addressed. The Academic and Career Center opened (October 2023) provides systematic academic counseling and customized career consulting. A system was established to allow direct consultation with renowned metropolitan area entrance exam instructors, contributing to leading and responsible efforts to reduce educational disparities between regions.

◆ Big changes felt through small innovations in daily life

Expanding benefits for Gumi citizens in the public sector, the city introduced the ‘Gumi Citizen Simple Verification Service’ in July and opened the underground parking lot at the rear plaza of Gumi Station (July 2023) and partially free access to the large parking lot at Geumo Mountain (October 2023), which had been long-standing resident demands.

To improve convenience at Nakdonggang Sports Park, which was visited by 1.44 million people this year, a new concession stand was installed (July 2023), and 15 traditional restrooms were completely demolished and replaced with modern restrooms, among other facility improvements.

Citizen-experienced innovations also include the opening of the Geumo Mountain lawn plaza and installation of photo zones, creation of a 500m nightscape along Geumo Stream, and early opening of the park golf course (one month ahead) after legalization, all small but significant innovations in daily life that received much support.

Rural innovation did not stop either. For two consecutive years, the agricultural and rural sector budget was increased, reaffirming the commitment to balanced development between urban and rural areas.

The Gumi Local Food Direct Market (April 2023) achieved 110,000 visitors and 2 billion KRW in sales within seven months of opening and is moving one step closer to realizing ‘farmers receiving salaries’ through regularization of income settlements.

Throughout 2023, Gumi City received recognition for its excellent capabilities from external organizations including central government ministries and Gyeongbuk Province with a total of 44 awards and was selected for 82 public projects, securing a total project cost of 508.2 billion KRW, including 301.3 billion KRW in national and provincial funds.

Thanks to these efforts to secure external resources, despite the government’s fiscal tightening policy, Gumi City expanded its budget to a record high of 2.002 trillion KRW, laying a solid foundation for Gumi’s re-creation.

Mayor Kim Jang-ho said, “Despite difficult internal and external conditions, we were able to achieve many results thanks to the citizens,” and added, “We ask for the citizens’ unwavering support and encouragement for administrative innovation for Gumi’s re-creation in the future.”