Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Province plans to invest a total of 109 trillion won over the next 10 years, focusing on fostering the life, bio, and energy industries to leap into a global life economy city. They aim to explore the establishment of a hub for advanced materials convergence like secondary batteries and physical artificial intelligence (AI), and promote balanced and mutual growth in 14 cities and counties.
The province recently finalized and announced the 'Comprehensive Plan for Global Life Economy City,' which covers various fields including industry, economy, energy, and tourism. This is the top-level statutory plan established for the first time since the inception of the special self-governing province, reflecting special laws and regional conditions.
Under the vision of 'Jeonbuk, a life economy city where people, nature, and technology grow together,' the plan sets three main goals: △ global center of life economy △ local growth of transition industries △ expansion to a global city of connected cities.
To achieve this, the plan includes 5 major strategies, such as promoting the life industry through smart agricultural innovation, leaping to a global hub for advanced bio-industry, focusing on renewable energy industry base, and industrializing life services based on Age-Tech.
Under the task of promoting transition industries, plans include building a future mobility hub centering on physical AI, creating a hub for high-value future advanced materials and resource circulation convergence, establishing a central hub for global K-culture businesses, and promoting a specialized strategy for K-healing tourism in Jeonbuk.
The province plans to divide the region into 5 development axes: agricultural innovation belt, AI transition (AX) new industrial growth belt, global convergence industry belt, marine leisure belt, and ecological healing belt. Each city and county within the province will have its own development direction, such as Jeonju as a metropolitan hub city with advanced and traditional aspects, Gunsan as a global city centering on advanced new industries, Kimje as a forward base for smart agriculture and advanced industries based on physical AI, and Wanju as a city focused on physical AI and hydrogen industries.
The total investment of 109 trillion won over the next 10 years will be composed of 56% national funds, 8% local funds, and 36% from private and other sources. The investment will be divided into stages for infrastructure construction (2026-2029), growth acceleration (2030-2033), and mature development (2034-2035), with priorities set for financial input based on objectives, targets, and sources.
Governor Kim Kwan-young stated, “The Comprehensive Plan for Global Life Economy City is the core plan designing the future of Jeonbuk for the next 10 years.” He added, “We will work with cities and counties to actively pursue tasks by strategy and achieve balanced growth where regions grow together, making tangible changes that residents can feel.”