President Lee: Gwangju Military Airport Functions to Be Temporarily Relocated to Another Base by Mid-2028

President Lee Jae-myung emphasized the swift implementation of three major mega-projects today (August 10), stating, "We are in a situation where we must wage not just a speed war, but a blitzkrieg."

Presiding over the second public-private joint review meeting on mega-projects at the presidential office today, President Lee urged, "We must simultaneously pursue related procedures to drastically reduce the time required and continuously improve regulations."

He added, "At the current stage, sites and infrastructure are more important than anything else. The Honam, Yeongnam, and Chungcheong regions are taking center stage, and among them, I hope the Honam semiconductor cluster will be executed as rapidly as Kumamoto in Japan."

Regarding the Gwangju Military Airport site designated for the Honam semiconductor cluster, he instructed, "The Ministry of National Defense should temporarily relocate the functions of the Gwangju base to another military airport by mid-2028 so that the Gwangju Military Airport site can be utilized early on as a semiconductor industrial complex."

In addition, he requested, "Please do your utmost to ensure that the industrial complex near the military airport can break ground early, even before the temporary relocation. We must also prepare plans for power and water supply without a hitch, and communicate closely with the National Assembly to accelerate the enactment and amendment of related laws."

President Lee further emphasized, "We must accelerate government innovation so that we can make extraordinary judgments and act extraordinarily in response to emergency situations. Going beyond a government that leads innovation, the government itself must become a model of innovation."

He reiterated that we are at the threshold of the golden age of the Republic of Korea, asking everyone to treat the upcoming year as a golden time and give it their all.

He also ordered the preemptive establishment of measures to prevent polarization during the mega-project promotion process.

President Lee explained, "The ultimate goal of the mega-projects is to expand the axis of growth across the entire national territory and reorganize the map of super-gap industries centering on regional areas. The results achieved through the capabilities of the entire community must not be concentrated solely on specific companies or regions."

He noted, "The scope of national investment and support should not be limited to the companies or industries targeted by the three major mega-projects. We need a strategy for a great industrial leap forward that includes ways to support the overall industrial ecosystem, such as materials, parts, and equipment, and connects the development of physical artificial intelligence to strengthening capabilities for the AI transformation of manufacturing."

He also asked business leaders in attendance, including Samsung Electronics President Kim Yong-wan and SK Future Growth Officer President Jeong Seung-il, to pay special attention to win-win activities.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.