Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju, Denies Preferential Treatment in Extension of Sochon Industrial Complex Project Deadline

Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, has issued a clarification stating that the controversy over the "extension of the Sochon Industrial Complex project period" is "not true."

The Sochon Industrial Complex (324,451㎡) is a project promoted by Gwangsan-gu to attract industrial and service industries to the Sochon and Unsu-dong areas and to accommodate unsuitable urban area businesses to improve the urban environment. Among the total area, an industrial facility zone of 4,584㎡ was purchased by Mr. A, the son of the former mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, in February 2018, and in April 2023, it was changed to a support facility zone where automobile maintenance businesses are permitted.

Guk Kang-hyun, a member of the Gwangsan-gu Council, raised allegations of preferential treatment, stating, "The project period for the land owned by Mr. A was until the end of December 2023 according to the Gwangsan-gu notice. However, even though the project implementer (Mr. A) took no action by December, the project period was extended to 2025."

In response, Gwangsan-gu issued a clarification, explaining, "The notice of project period extension was an administrative correction made belatedly to fix an error," and added, "The project period extension had already been changed in 2022 to last until 2025."

They further stated, "There was an administrative mistake in issuing the correction notice belatedly regarding the project period change from December 2023 to December 2025, and it is not true that this caused misunderstandings of preferential treatment or benefits being concentrated on a specific individual." Gwangsan-gu sent a project period correction notice to Mr. A in December 2023, but the correction notice reflecting this in the Sochon Industrial Complex development implementation plan was only belatedly issued last month.

Gwangsan-gu explained, "According to legal advice, the administrative defect was remedied by the project period revision notice, and the notice is effective without issue," and added, "Claims that changes to the Sochon Industrial Complex notice, which did not meet legal requirements, are null and void are legally excessive."

Finally, they emphasized, "We take this issue seriously and will conduct an internal audit to thoroughly inspect all industrial complex management tasks and establish public service discipline to prevent recurrence," and pledged to devise measures to prevent similar problems in the future.