Gwangyang City Wins 'Excellence Award' in Local Administrative Innovation Competition

Innovative System Improvements and Attraction of New Industries to Gwangyang National Industrial Complex

Gwangyang City in Jeollanam-do presented a new model of local administrative innovation by winning the Grand Prize at the ‘1st Korean Local Government Association Local Administrative Innovation Awards’ ceremony held on the 22nd.

In this award, which selects outstanding institutions based on innovation, creativity, sustainability, and socio-economic efficiency, Gwangyang City received the Grand Prize in recognition of its bold institutional improvements and outstanding achievements in attracting new industries to the Gwangyang National Industrial Complex.

[Photo by Gwangyang-si]

The Donghoan area of the Gwangyang National Industrial Complex was subject to legal restrictions that made investment impossible despite POSCO Group’s willingness to invest in advanced new industries such as secondary batteries and hydrogen industries.

Accordingly, since August 2022, Gwangyang City prepared institutional improvement plans for the Donghoan site and promoted legal amendments through continuous consultations with multiple central government ministries.

Following the Cabinet meeting last October, the revision of the enforcement decree was implemented, resulting in the success of Gwangyang City’s bold challenge.

Through the revision of the 「Industrial Location Act Enforcement Decree」, Gwangyang City secured investment commitments exceeding 4.4 trillion KRW from POSCO Group in the secondary battery and hydrogen industry sectors.

This is expected to lead to the creation of more than 9,000 local jobs and establish a foundation for the secondary battery and hydrogen industries in Gwangyang City.

In particular, this investment is anticipated to greatly contribute to diversifying Gwangyang City’s economic structure and achieving sustainable development by attracting new industries that are future growth engines.

Jung In-hwa, Mayor of Gwangyang City, said, “Winning this Local Administrative Innovation Award is a recognition of the changes and development of Gwangyang created together with its citizens,” and added, “We will continue to pursue relentless administrative innovation to build Gwangyang as a sustainable global future city.”