How Gyeonggi Province Worked in 2012

In 2012, Gyeonggi Province saw confirmed investment from Samsung Electronics in a 100 trillion won mega-project, the largest since national foundation, and steadily advanced the fostering of textile industries to lead economic development in northern Gyeonggi. New agricultural technologies from the province drew international attention, and the opening of six railroad lines significantly expanded transportation convenience for residents. Looking back at Gyeonggi Province's eventful 2012, we review the year through 10 major news stories.

- Record Investment Since National Foundation: Samsung Electronics Moves into Pyeongtaek Goduk Industrial Complex

Samsung Electronics, which had pledged in December 2010 to move into the Pyeongtaek Goduk Industrial Complex in Gyeonggi Province, confirmed its relocation on July 31 by signing a land sales contract.

After 19 months following the preliminary agreement signing, the main contract came after Gyeonggi Province's relentless efforts. Samsung Electronics plans to invest over 100 trillion won in the Goduk Industrial Complex, spanning 3.95 million square meters (approximately 1.2 million pyeong) in the Pyeongtaek Goduk International City area, in new business sectors including solar cells and medical devices as well as next-generation semiconductor production lines, creating over 30,000 high-skill jobs.

Meanwhile, Gyeonggi Province is focusing efforts on making Goduk New City a model of an integrated complex city combining workplaces and living spaces that the province is pursuing. The province announced active support measures including strengthening residential functions linked to the industrial complex, supplying shared residential land for workers of companies cooperating with the industrial complex, and early opening of five roads near the industrial complex.

- Adding Childcare Welfare to Infinite Care

Gyeonggi Province's flagship welfare policy, the Infinite Care program, which started in 2008 as the nation's first of its kind, marked its fifth year since launch and provided 81.1 billion won in support to a total of approximately 73,000 households in crisis over four years, becoming a solid support pillar.

Building on the success of the Infinite Care program, Gyeonggi Province introduced a new welfare delivery system called Infinite Care Centers in 2010, investing 27.4 billion won budget by city and county, hiring 220 private case managers, and implementing case management for 35,310 households over the past three years.

As a result of these efforts, Gyeonggi Province was selected as an outstanding welfare institution by the Ministry of Health and Welfare this year. This year is a meaningful year in which Gyeonggi Province's welfare, which started with Infinite Care, expanded to the childcare sector.

The province, which has already been responsible for elementary school childcare through the Dream Tree Safe School program, announced and is implementing the "Good Project for Raising Children" in April, which includes ▲ establishing 25 public childcare centers in industrial complexes ▲ expanding five 24-hour, three-shift childcare centers, ▲ opening 14 "I Love Mom" cafes, ▲ revitalizing the home childcare teacher system, ▲ improving treatment and strengthening competency of childcare staff, and ▲ creating a safe childcare environment.

Recently, the province announced plans to fully implement the Nuri Curriculum free childcare by supporting a 30,000 won difference between public and private childcare center fees for private childcare center users starting next year.

- Well-Connected Gyeonggi Province Opens the Age of Rail

In 2012, six railroad lines opened in Gyeonggi Province, marking the beginning of a new rail era. The Suin Line, which opened in June, was famous for its nostalgic narrow-gauge trains and was reborn as a double-track railway 17 years after operations ceased, now running 163 times daily between Siheung's Oido and Incheon's Songdo.

The Uijeongbu Light Rail Transit, which opened in July, drew attention as the province's first light rail operated directly by the city, running 11.1 km from Songsan in Uijeongbu to Jangam.

In September, the 27.9 km Jungangline double-track railway connecting Yongmun in Yangpyeong and Seoweonjoo in Gangwon Province opened. In October, the Bucheon Metro Line 7 extension connecting Onsu Station and Bupyeong Station opened. This line significantly increased subway usage among Bucheon residents and improved congestion on the relatively notorious Gyeongin Line.

One month after opening, the Metro Line 7 extension attracted approximately 2.53 million passengers, resulting in a 15 percent decrease in Gyeongin Line ridership during the same period.

In November, the 5.6 km section of the Gyeongwon Line from Sintanri to Baekmagoji Station in Cheorwon opened. The Gyeongwon Line, which was destroyed during the Korean War and restored 60 years later, can potentially connect to the Trans-Russian Railway and Trans-Chinese Railway in the future.

The recent opening of the Bundang Line extension between Giheung and Mangpo stations is significant as it opens a full-fledged subway era for 2.5 million residents of Suwon, Hwaseong, and Yongin, who previously relied only on bus service.

- Gyeonggi Province Creates 25 Percent of National Jobs

Governor Moon-su Kim declared in his 2012 New Year address that job creation would be the top priority of the province's administration. To this end, the province reorganized its structure including the establishment of a vice-governorship for economy in March and pursued various job creation policies including expanded youth employment support and cultivation of village and social enterprises.

As of end-October, Gyeonggi Province created a total of 114,000 jobs this year (based on Statistics Korea's October employment trends). This represents 88 percent of the year's target of 130,000 jobs and accounts for 25 percent of national job creation, ranking first among local governments.

The province created approximately 5,500 jobs through youth employment and startup support including the Gyeonggi Talent Track, Youth New Deal, and specialized high school employment support, and 1,000 jobs for the vulnerable through tailored employment support such as assistance for credit recovery targets. The functionality of the Job Center, Gyeonggi Province's core job creation project, was also strengthened.

To improve resident accessibility, the province opened a job counseling office at Suwon Station in July, achieving an average of approximately 330 consultations per day and an average of 17 successful placements per day.

An employment retraining seminar prepared to support baby boomers entering retirement age attracted over 2,000 participants, far exceeding expectations, and received explosive response. A mobile job bus for the vulnerable served job placement services to approximately 4,500 people, successfully placing 602 individuals in jobs.

- World Takes Notice of Gyeonggi Agriculture

2012 was also a year when the world recognized Gyeonggi Province's cutting-edge agricultural technology. In November, a prominent businessman from Qatar met with Governor Moon-su Kim and expressed hope for smart plant factory investment.

A smart plant factory refers to an advanced glass greenhouse for crop cultivation developed for the first time in the world in 2010 by Gyeonggi Province's Agricultural Technology Center by incorporating advanced information technology (IT) convergence technology. Gyeonggi Province has great expectations for smart plant factory exports, as it represents plant exports rather than product exports.

Gyeonggi Province roses, which had been popular as flowers commanding international royalties, also achieved great success. The rose 'Deep Purple' developed by Gyeonggi Province won the top prize for the first time domestically at the International Flower and Plant Expo held in Moscow, Russia in September.

Deep Purple is currently sold at 460,000 plants across 31 farms in nine countries including Ecuador and Colombia, gaining popularity worldwide.

Gyeonggi Province is showing the direction Korean agriculture should take. The province plans to complete the relocation of the Agricultural Technology Center to the former Seoul National University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences campus by 2015 and continue agricultural research.

- Northern Gyeonggi Reborn as Mecca of Domestic Textile Industry

The Korea-U.S. FTA concluded in 2011 provided new opportunities for northern Gyeonggi Province, which had numerous small-scale knit and textile factories. Gyeonggi Province announced an ambitious plan to foster the textile industry in response to the FTA.

The Comprehensive Plan for Textile Industry Promotion announced in May includes various plans to develop Gyeonggi Province's textile industry into a world-class textile and fashion industry by 2022, when the tariff elimination period of the Korea-U.S. FTA is complete.

The province announced plans to invest a total of approximately 638 billion won in 21 projects across three sectors—textile industry infrastructure development, research and development support, and marketing support—by 2016 as the first phase.

The province opened the Gyeonggi Textile Marketing Center in New York, and together with the existing LA Textile Marketing Center, assisted domestic textile companies' entry into the U.S. market. In September, coinciding with the Korea-EU FTA, it participated in trade shows in Germany and Italy, visiting seven overseas exhibitions throughout the year to support overseas expansion.

Gyeonggi Province anticipates that after 2013, when the Textile Comprehensive Support Center linking planning-production-marketing and the Textile and Sewing Knowledge Industry Center linking planning-design-sewing-marketing are completed, northern Gyeonggi's textile industry will enter a full growth trajectory.

- Overcoming Record Worst Drought and Heat Wave

May 2012 will long be remembered as the worst drought in 20 years. From May 1 to June 24 of this year, nearly two months, only 25.8 mm of rain fell on Gyeonggi Province, and the water level at major reservoirs in the province dropped to 32 percent.

The same period last year saw 189 mm of rain, and compared to the normal precipitation of 202 mm for the same period, the situation was dire. To relieve the parched agricultural heartland, the province mobilized 3,296 personnel and 2,406 pieces of equipment, implementing emergency water development and dredging of reservoirs.

The heat wave that arrived in July caused damage comparable to the drought. Gyeonggi Province issued heat wave warnings for a total of 18 days from July 24 to August 10. Twenty-seven cases of heat-related illness occurred, and 300,000 livestock died. Water odor complaints due to green algae in Lake Paldang also resulted in 389 cases, becoming a social issue.

However, the province implemented rapid, field-tailored heat wave measures from late June to late August, including operating 6,759 cooling centers and visiting health management for vulnerable groups, preventing the heat wave without a single fatality. Gyeonggi Province pointed out that heat wave and green algae damage caused by August weather anomalies repeat every year and recommended to the government that heat waves and green algae be included as disasters under the Disaster and Safety Management Act to establish a legal support framework.

- Gyeonggi Province's 4G Movement Changes the Way People Work

The 4G movement is a type of work improvement initiative aimed at reducing meetings and documents while strengthening on-site activities and communication. As the 4G movement took off, meetings and paperwork visibly decreased.

According to data compiled by the province, following the 4G movement, the province reduced approximately 651 printers during the first half alone, achieving approximately 300 million won in budget savings through its document reduction initiative. According to an employee survey conducted by the province, 60 percent of respondents answered that document writing decreased. The number of users of smart work centers, installed to increase work efficiency for long-distance commuters and business travelers, steadily increased.

- Strengthened Military Cooperation Bears Fruit

The greatest achievement is that starting in April, Gyeonggi Province began barbed-wire fence removal operations on 9.7 km in Gimpo city and 12.9 km in Goyang city, planning to complete the barbed-wire fence removal by March next year and return the disappeared Han River embankment to residents.

The province decided to develop an ecological wetland in the Goyang section where fences are removed and an eco-friendly river embankment in the Gimpo section. The province had been conducting discussions on fence removal since 2006 and agreed to its removal in December 2008.

In early this year, through continued discussions with the Ministry of National Defense, 1.498 million square meters in northern Gyeonggi areas including Unyang-dong in Gimpo city were removed from military facility protection zones.

- North Korean Defector Becomes South Korean Civil Servant

This year marked the tenth anniversary of Gyeonggi Province's launch of inter-Korean exchange and cooperation. To lay the foundation for promoting inter-Korean exchange, Gyeonggi Province unveiled a new policy of recruiting North Korean defectors as regular civil servants. In December, Gyeonggi Province finally selected Lee Soo-hyuk (33, male), a native of Tancheon, Hamgyeongnam Province, through competitive recruitment.

This was the first instance in the country of a North Korean defector being appointed as a regular administrative civil servant. Lee Soo-hyuk will hold the position of administrative rank 8 and assume duties related to unification education at the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Division of the Gyeonggi Province North Headquarters beginning in December.

Meanwhile, Gyeonggi Province has been helping North Korean defectors settle in South Korea by being the first local government nationwide to hire North Korean defectors as contract civil servants in 2008.

Currently, the province employs the largest number of civil servants nationwide at 30 (six at the provincial level, 24 at city and county levels). This accounts for 46 percent, nearly half of the total 65 North Korean defector civil servants working at local governments nationwide.

In addition to hiring North Korean defectors as regular civil servants, Gyeonggi Province plans to actively pursue the recruitment of North Korean defectors to provincial public institutions starting next year.