Sejong could be center for science

The government is considering making Sejong City home to dozens of research institutes and elite schools in a bid to develop it into a self-sufficient city of science, education and green growth industries.

A panel of government officials and outside experts assigned to review alternatives to what was previously designed to become an administrative town discussed ways to attract think tanks and businesses during their second meeting yesterday.

They are scheduled to visit the Sejong City site in South Chungcheong Province later this week to collect the views of residents in the region and finalize a revision scheme by mid-December.

"An appropriate level of incentives must be provided to motivate companies and private institutions to invest in Sejong City," said Prime Minister Chung Un-chan, presiding over the meeting yesterday.



In addition to developing a cluster of green growth industries, the government expects to attract 19 Korean research institutes and about three foreign ones to the new city.

They include the International Vaccine Institute, the Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics, the Max Planck Institutes, second campuses of the National Fusion Research Institute and the Korea Institute of Advanced Study.

The government is also considering the designation of Sejong as a national industrial complex where state budget is used to build roads and water supply infrastructure and taxes are exempted, or as part of a science business belt to form a large R&D cluster.

To increase the city`s population to half a million by 2030, every type of elite high school and foreign school will open in Sejong, according to the blueprint presented at the meeting yesterday.

The government also made attempts to appease complaints from other regions as it issued promises of incentives to develop Sejong.

The panel agreed yesterday that Sejong`s incentives will be limited to a level that does not alienate free economic zones, industrial cities or innovative cities in other parts of the country.

Only functions moving from the Seoul metropolitan area or overseas and new functions that have not been publicly discussed will be housed in Sejong.

The report submitted to the panel by the Land Ministry highlighted the government`s unchanged visions for industrial and innovative cities under development across the nation.

(sophie@heraldm.com)







By Kim So-hyun