Yellow Sea Region Governors' Council Resumes in Suwon After 4 Years

The Yellow Sea Region Governors' Council, which was halted immediately after its establishment in 2003, will be convened again in Suwon under the auspices of Gyeonggi Province.

On the 18th, Gyeonggi Province announced that it will hold the Yellow Sea Region Governors' Council, which will be attended by governors and mayors of five provincial-level governments in the Yellow Sea region—Gyeonggi, Incheon, South Chungcheong, South Jeolla, and North Jeolla—at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Building on the 25th afternoon, marking its first meeting in four years since the suspension.

The meeting will be attended by Gyeonggi Governor Kim Moon-su, Incheon Mayor Ahn Sang-soo, South Chungcheong Governor Lee Wan-gu, and Vice Governors from South and North Jeolla.

The meeting is scheduled to discuss four agenda items: ▲early construction of the West Coast Railway (including the Honam High-Speed Railway) ▲early construction of the Southwestern Coast Ring Road (National Route 77) ▲West Coast tourism development projects ▲and composition of a forum for joint research and task development among provincial research institutes.

If the Yellow Sea Region Governors' Council proceeds smoothly, the establishment of the '5+5 Regional Economic Council,' a regional government cooperation initiative between Korea and China proposed by Governor Kim Moon-su in Jinan, Shandong Province, China in April, is expected to gain momentum.

At the time, Governor Kim proposed the formation of the cooperation body, stating: "China's economic development axis is rapidly shifting to the Bohai Bay Rim centered on Beijing and Tianjin, and the Republic of Korea's economic development is also rapidly advancing centered on the West Coast. Therefore, the Bohai Bay Rim region and the West Coast region should be established as a close and organic economic cooperation framework."

The target regions for the '5+5 Regional Economic Council' championed by Governor Kim are five West Coast provincial-level governments in South Korea—Gyeonggi, Seoul, Incheon, South Chungcheong, and North Jeolla—and five local governments in China's Bohai Bay Rim—Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei Province, Liaoning Province, and Shandong Province.

A provincial official stated: "The Yellow Sea Region Governors' Council was originally scheduled to be held annually on a rotating basis by region, but it has not been convened due to various reasons including floods and elections." The official added: "If this meeting proceeds smoothly, we anticipate that the '5+5 Regional Economic Council,' which will unite the West Coast region and China's Bohai Bay Rim region as a single regional economic unit, will also be able to be launched."