A development project in Gangwon State's Mangsang district, adrift for 14 years amid repeated changes of developer and revisions to its plans, is being restarted. The plan calls for 767.2 billion won ($536 million) in investment through 2035 to turn the site into Northeast Asia's leading tourism hub and a global resort city.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry said on the 19th that its Free Economic Zone Committee had reviewed and approved a revised development plan extending the project period for the Mangsang district of the Gangwon Free Economic Zone by nine years to 2035.
Daemyung Construction, the project developer, plans to invest a total of 767.2 billion won across about 3.79 million square meters in and around Mangsang-dong, Donghae, Gangwon State. Drawing on the area's mountains and coastline, the project will include lodging such as hotels and resorts, leisure facilities including a golf course, residential and commercial properties, and foreign educational institutions. It will also make use of an investment immigration program that grants residency status to foreign nationals who invest above a set amount in tourism and resort facilities.
Mangsang was designated a free economic zone in 2013 but never broke ground, as developers changed hands and development plans were revised repeatedly. According to the Gangwon Federation of Businesses, the development plan alone has been revised 19 times. The central government, Gangwon State and the city of Donghae put forward normalization measures on several occasions, but the project remained stuck, deepening distrust in the local community.
The project reached a turning point in July 2024, when Daemyung Construction was designated as the new developer. Last year, the company drew up a revised development plan that expanded the project area and added an international school, medical facilities and a mixed-use resort complex.
Approval of the revised plan was postponed in June this year after the committee asked for further details, including on the prospects for attracting an international school. The company supplemented those sections, and the plan cleared the re-review on the same day.
The committee also approved revised development plans for Cheongna International City in the Incheon Free Economic Zone and the Galsa Bay shipbuilding industrial complex in the Gwangyang Bay Area Free Economic Zone.
Cheongna International City will expand its role as a K-content production hub. It will build a one-stop system supporting the entire process from video content production through distribution, along with culture and tourism experience facilities based on content intellectual property. The project period will be extended by four years to 2031.
The Galsa Bay shipbuilding industrial complex has diversified its approach, courting domestic and foreign investment while developing new business models in renewable energy and energy logistics. The committee extended the project period by two years to 2028 so the project can continue.
Regulatory changes are also being pursued to support corporate tenancy and investment. A proposed amendment to the enforcement decree of the Free Economic Zone Act, reported at the meeting, would streamline support procedures for companies returning to Korea and strengthen the role of free economic zone authorities as coordinating bodies for cooperation among special zones. Industrial sites within free economic zones will also be allowed to carry different supply prices within the range of development costs.
"We plan to realign development plans to match the characteristics and conditions of each free economic zone, and to keep improving the system through measures such as amending the enforcement decree, so that free economic zones can emerge anew as focal points for regional growth and foreign investment," said Je Kyung-hee, head of the Free Economic Zone Planning Group at the Ministry of Trade and Industry.