Gyeongsangbuk-do and Gimcheon City held the 'Gyeongbuk + 22 Economic One-Team Strategy Meeting - Gimcheon DAY' on Friday, September 18, at the Gimcheon City Hall auditorium, with the attendance of Yang Geum-hee, Vice Governor for Economic Affairs of Gyeongsangbuk-do, Gimcheon Mayor Bae Nak-ho, and related bureau directors. They discussed future strategies and execution plans for pending issues to elevate Gimcheon beyond a transportation hub into a central inland hub city of South Korea.

Gyeongsangbuk-do presented a phased development direction to expand Gimcheon's functions from a transportation hub into an industrial, innovative, and lifestyle hub by connecting its KTX, railway, and highway networks with the innovation city and industrial infrastructure. The vision is to grow Gimcheon beyond a simple transportation nodal point into a central inland hub city encompassing the transportation, industrial, public service, commercial, and cultural functions of surrounding cities and counties.

Based on LIG D&A's investment worth 300 billion won and existing industrial foundations such as automobile tuning and drones, they discussed enhancing future mobility and advanced defense competitiveness, as well as fostering Gimcheon as a future mobility testing and certification hub linked with the Physical AI Supply Chain Mega Special Zone. Other pending issues will also be pursued, including reflecting the next-generation mobility special zone in Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport projects, responding to preliminary feasibility studies, entering the robotics industry supply chain, and applying for the hydrogen city contest.

Ways to expand the Gimcheon Innovation City from a public institution-centered administrative and business space into a regional growth hub where industry, logistics, and settlement harmonize were also discussed. Gyeongsangbuk-do's plan is to connect the floating population and business demand generated by KTX and relocated public institutions with private investment to expand business functions such as corporate occupancy facilities and hotels/accommodations, while improving settlement conditions and inducing long-term retention of young workers through the construction of workers' dormitories at the Gimcheon General Industrial Complex. To address the shortage of tourism infrastructure, the Jikji area will be developed as a stay-over tourism hub, and project structuring utilizing policy finance and private capital will be carried out.

Ways to spread the achievements of local contents—such as the 'Gimcheon Gimbap Festival', which rose to first place in the Korea Festival Evaluation just two years after its launch—into the growth of agriculture and the food industry were also discussed. Utilizing Gimcheon's smart agriculture town and agricultural product distribution and processing infrastructure, corporate-style smart farms incorporating AI and robotics will be fostered, linking everything from prototype production and startup to the export of K-Food. Structuring projects to foster smart-farm companies rooted in Gimcheon using policy finance and private capital will also be reviewed.

Gimcheon Mayor Bae Nak-ho stated, "This Economic One-Team Strategy Meeting was a meaningful occasion to share Gimcheon's pending issues and seek development plans leveraging our regional strengths. Starting today, we will cooperate with Gyeongsangbuk-do so that Gimcheon can leap forward as a new growth hub in the western region of Gyeongbuk."

Vice Governor for Economic Affairs Yang Geum-hee remarked, "Gimcheon is a region with great growth potential to expand its industrial and residential functions based on its innovation city and KTX. The province and the city will work together to ensure that Gimcheon grows into a central inland hub city where industrial, innovative, and lifestyle functions harmonize, going beyond a transportation hub."

[Copyright (c) Global Economic Times. All Rights Reserved.]