Semiconductor Complexes Dominate Korean Election Pledges, Overlooking Resident Needs

As South Korea gears up for the June 3rd local elections, campaign promises are heavily leaning towards grand infrastructure projects, such as the development of semiconductor complexes, overshadowing the more pressing, everyday concerns of residents. An event organized by the National Election Commission, seeking suggestions for "hopeful pledges," received numerous proposals from non-metropolitan areas focused on practical improvements like "introducing a dedicated school bus" in Asan City or "establishing an integrated emergency medical and transportation safety network" in Gyeongju City.

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Good pledges are changes that residents can immediately feel. Like a bus that comes when you call.

Major political parties have presented their regional development strategies. The Democratic Party of Korea prioritizes regional balanced development, aiming to create a "5-core, 3-special" system through the integration of metropolitan local governments to foster locally-led growth. The People Power Party emphasizes "deregulation" to boost regional economies, granting local government heads exceptional authority to attract businesses. The Justice Party advocates for making public transportation universally free nationwide to create "livable regions anywhere in the country."

However, despite these varied approaches, the election discourse remains dominated by the debate over where to build large semiconductor industrial complexes. This focus reflects a persistent tendency among major parties to frame regional imbalance solutions within the existing paradigm of large-scale social overhead capital (SOC) construction or attracting major corporations and public institutions. Lee Sang-ho, a research fellow at the Korea Employment Information Service, cautions that simply building highways might inadvertently create "highways" for regional talent to commute to the capital region, exacerbating rather than solving the problem.

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If you just build highways, they could become 'highways' for regional talent to commute (to the capital region).

Experts emphasize that revitalizing regions requires more than just hard infrastructure. Lee suggests that to encourage private sector R&D personnel to reside in these areas, incentives such as designing research clusters linked with local universities and providing quality housing are necessary. Gye Bong-oh, a professor of population sociology at Kookmin University, identifies the vicious cycle of "personnel shortages" and "infrastructure deficits" in non-metropolitan areas as the root cause of regional decline. He argues that without improvements in essential services like healthcare and education, people will not be motivated to relocate.

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To allow private sector R&D personnel to live in the region, incentives such as designing research clusters linked with local universities and providing quality housing are needed.

Professor Gye calls for a shift in focus during the election period, urging a move away from zero-sum competition among declining regions for limited populations. Instead, he advocates for greater attention to improving the fundamental living conditions that encourage people to stay and settle in their local communities. The article implies that election pledges must translate into tangible improvements in residents' daily lives to effectively combat regional extinction.

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The starting point of the regional extinction problem is the vicious cycle where 'personnel shortages' and 'infrastructure shortages' in non-metropolitan areas intensify each other.