CHANGWON — South Gyeongsang Province Governor Park Wan-su ordered officials to draw up mid- to long-term visions and targets by sector that spell out what the province's industry, infrastructure and welfare should look like a decade from now.
Speaking at a meeting of bureau and division heads at the provincial government office on the morning of Oct. 19, Park said hard work alone is not enough. "It matters that the provincial government works hard, but the effort and the will to achieve something only come when the vision and the goals are clear," he said. "We need to lay out visions and targets by sector — not only for this elected term, but for what South Gyeongsang's industry and economy, its road and transport infrastructure, its welfare and its residents' living standards should look like 10 years from now." He instructed the Planning and Coordination Office to work with the relevant departments and agencies to flesh out the mid- to long-term vision as soon as possible.
On aerospace, Park highlighted the shift of the 2026 Sacheon Air Show, which opens this week, from a flight-and-experience event into an industry expo drawing domestic and foreign aerospace and defense companies. "This expo is a touchstone for where the Sacheon aerospace industry expo goes from here," he said. "We have to make sure domestic and foreign companies come to see South Gyeongsang as the center of Korea's aerospace industry, and that this leads to partnerships with local firms and to investment."
Park noted that companies in the province took part in the fifth launch of the Nuri rocket by manufacturing and assembling core components and mounting the satellite, and he also cited an investment promotion briefing the province will hold in Seoul on the 20th. "We need to firmly establish, among companies at home and abroad, the idea that if you want to do business in aerospace, you go to Jinju and Sacheon," he said. He urged officials to link efforts to attract companies and research institutes, expand transport infrastructure such as Sacheon Airport and rail lines, build an industrial support system and improve living conditions through an aerospace complex city — and to prepare for an expansion of the free economic zone in western South Gyeongsang and for designation as a mega special zone.
On welfare, Park called for improvements to the province's integrated welfare platform built on generative artificial intelligence, the first such system set up by a metropolitan-level government in the country. "The current welfare system works on an application basis, where you only get benefits if you apply yourself, so there are cases where residents who actually need help do not receive it," he said. "We need to keep improving the rules and the systems so we can move toward automatic applications or applications filed on the government's own initiative."
On port logistics, Park called for preparations to develop Jinhae New Port into a hub port, pointing to the trial voyage along the Arctic shipping route. "If the Arctic route takes off, Jinhae New Port's role will become even more important," he said. "We need to work with the central government to expand smart port infrastructure and build a foundation for growth tied to South Gyeongsang's core industries such as shipbuilding and machinery." He also named training specialists, developing a support city behind the port and building road and rail networks as tasks.
On recent economic indicators such as the employment rate and the number of employed people, Park said that even allowing for base effects from a year earlier, the broader flow and trend of the regional economy needs to be examined, and he instructed officials to conduct a comprehensive analysis with the Bank of Korea and other relevant institutions. Looking ahead to the National Assembly's budget and bill reviews, which get underway in earnest after the parliamentary audit of government agencies, he called for efforts to secure national funding for next year and to pass special acts on developing the southern coast and on the aerospace complex city. He said he would personally visit the National Assembly's Special Committee on Budget and Accounts and the lawmakers concerned to ask for their cooperation.