"Relocate Suwon Airfield and exclude the area from corporate relocation target zones! Also designate Seongnam Airfield as a dual civilian-military facility and establish new domestic routes and short-haul international routes to Beijing and Tokyo!"
Gyeonggi Province, which has been opposing the government's regional development strategy without regulatory easing for the Seoul metropolitan area, presented specific demands for regulatory relief, including the relocation of Suwon Airfield, at an "Emergency Resolution Meeting for the Abolition of Seoul Metropolitan Area Regulations" held on the 24th.
At the emergency resolution meeting held at 3 p.m. that day in the international conference room on the first floor of the SME Center, the province announced five major demands to the government: ▲ regulatory easing on military facilities and compensation for damages ▲ water quality improvement of Paldang and resident support measures ▲ improvement of uniform Green Belt management system ▲ development of West Coast national strategic complex special zones targeting China ▲ corporate regulatory easing.
Among the specifics of military facility regulatory easing, the province raised the relocation of Suwon Airfield and exclusion from Seoul metropolitan area corporate relocation target zones. This reflects the significant ripple effects the Suwon Airfield issue, one of the major challenges facing Suwon as a provincial capital, has on Gyeonggi Province as a whole, as well as the deteriorating corporate environment due to the relocation of major companies like Samsung Electronics to provincial areas.
The province also proposed allowing Pocheon Airfield to be used as a civilian airfield and excluding businesses in military facility-dense areas such as Pocheon and Yeoncheon from subsidy eligibility when Seoul metropolitan companies relocate to provincial areas. Additionally, it called for enacting a special support law for Dongducheon, where U.S. military facilities occupy more than 40% of the total area, and removing military boundary fences unrelated to military security.
Regarding Paldang water quality policy, the demands included implementing total pollution load management, regulatory easing measures under the Seoul Metropolitan Area Regulation Planning Act, and transferring the water usage fee collection authority of Paldang Dam from the Korea Water Resources Corporation to Gyeonggi Province.
The province proposed releasing Green Belt areas exceeding two-thirds of the total area in municipalities such as Gwacheon, Uiwang, and Hanam, and allowing eco-friendly facilities such as universities and research institutes to be located within Green Belt areas.
Regarding the West Coast complex special zone development, one of Gyeonggi Province's key projects, the demands included establishing a National Museum of Natural History at the Sihwa dinosaur egg fossil site (area 16 km²), changing the usage of Sihwa and Hwawon reclaimed land to medical complex tourism zones and marine leisure complex zones, and designating the West Coast Gyeonggi Bay area as a "national strategic complex special zone targeting China."
Other demands included the abolition of the factory total system and immediate approval of capacity expansion for the Gwangmyeong Kia Motors plant and the Icheon SK Hynix plant. The province plans to work with local members of the National Assembly and make strong demands to the central government going forward.
Meanwhile, Gyeonggi Province's business, labor, and women's communities adopted a resolution statement at the meeting and agreed to conduct joint activities to urge the abolition of Seoul metropolitan area regulations.
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