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Asia-Oceania
IFEZ Commissioner Visits Ganghwa Site in Pending Zone Expansion Bid
FTZ News: Kim Jong-cheol was on the south side of Ganghwa Island on Sept. 22. Sisa Ilbo and a couple of other Incheon papers had him there that night. He had been commissioner of the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority for three days.
The stop, they wrote, was the old fort at Buno-ri in Hwado-myeon. IFEZ wants 6.32 square kilometers in Hwado and Gilsang added to the Incheon Free Economic Zone. The authority lists advanced industry, green bio and physical AI among the proposed district’s focus areas. It also talks about the airport and about Songdo, Cheongna and Yeongjong. A study on pushing the zone north started in 2023. Local stories say the designation file reached the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources in September 2025. They describe it as under review. None of them print an approval.
After the visit Kim said he would change parts of the development plan and keep talking to the ministries. No dollar figure for Ganghwa appears in those reports. No date for a ruling either.
Financial News on Sept. 20, quoting the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said that ministry wanted candidate projects from local governments outside the Seoul metropolitan area. Eleven zones: four regulatory-free, four global special zones, three interregional. Applications Nov. 2–6, the paper said.
Korean Free Economic Zones Day was Sept. 2 in Seoul. MOTIR’s English note from the event counted nine zones, 101 districts, about 8,500 companies and about 250,000 jobs. Incheon’s first designation was March 2003./.
photo: www.ifez.go.kr