Mayor Park Hong-ryul Requests Prime Minister Han Deok-su to Visit Mokpo New Port
Mokpo City (Mayor Park Hong-ryul) hosted a gathering on the 18th at Mokpo New Port, the only offshore wind power support port in Korea, where government officials, local governments, and industry representatives came together to promote the development of the domestic offshore wind power industry.
According to the city on the 19th, the event was attended by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, Choi Nam-ho, 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Nam Jae-heon, Director of the Port Bureau of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Kim Young-rok, Governor of Jeollanam-do, Choo Hyung-wook, President of SK Innovation E&S, Yoo Tae-seung, CEO of CIP/COP Korea, and Lee Nam-cheol, Head of the Wind Power Business Division at Hanwha Corporation.
The attendees conducted an inspection of the Mokpo New Port pier, where Korea’s first private-led offshore wind power project is actively underway, followed by in-depth discussions on the direction of Jeollanam-do’s offshore wind power projects and current issues faced by local governments and the industry.
Park Hong-ryul, Mayor of Mokpo (second from the right), is explaining Mokpo New Port to Prime Minister Han Duck-soo. Photo by Mokpo City
At the meeting, Mayor Park Hong-ryul presented Mokpo City’s future vision and emphasized the city’s strengths as a domestic offshore wind power forward base, urging the timely construction of core infrastructure to support offshore wind power within Mokpo New Port and the attraction of advanced industries related to RE100 in the region.
Currently, the Jeollanam-do region centered on Mokpo is prioritizing the ‘offshore wind power industry’ as a key policy to overcome the crisis of local population decline and to achieve a new future leap. However, the piers currently used for nationwide offshore wind power projects are limited to one container pier berth and part of the steel pier at Mokpo New Port, which is grossly insufficient to handle the offshore wind power cargo volumes expected from Sinan, Yeonggwang, Wando, and other areas.
The lack of dedicated infrastructure poses a potential obstacle to the domestic offshore wind power market, making infrastructure expansion urgently necessary to successfully lead the offshore wind power industry.
Accordingly, Mokpo City requested the government to exempt the project from preliminary feasibility studies and to promptly allocate national funds to accelerate the development of a dedicated offshore wind power pier (one berth for 30,000 tons) and a second-phase rear complex (238,000㎡) within the new port. The city is confident that this project will not only promote balanced regional development and support the government’s renewable energy expansion policies but also serve as a catalyst for Korea’s carbon neutrality realization.
Mayor Park Hong-ryul stated, “Despite the ongoing challenging market conditions, this was a very meaningful occasion to promote the development of the domestic offshore wind power industry,” adding, “We will do our utmost to ensure that Mokpo City plays a central role in achieving remarkable outcomes.”
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