Ha Jun-kyung, senior presidential secretary for economic growth at the Blue House, said on the 4th that the government's large-scale regional investment plan, the "three mega projects," is "comparable in scale to past industrialization." He also said that the heads of conglomerates participating in the projects are grateful to President Lee Jae-myung.
Appearing the same day on the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation's YouTube program "Jung Joon-hee's Saturday Debate," Ha said, "If we call the industrialization of the Park Chung-hee era the first industrialization, now is the second industrialization. I think the (mega projects) are of that magnitude."
He also said, "Past industrialization was unbalanced, but this time it is balanced industrialization, and instead of catch-up industrialization that follows advanced countries, it is lead industrialization in which we go ahead," adding, "There will be many changes, and the regions will also have opportunities for growth."
Ha added, "We intend to build at the fastest possible speed," and said, "A great many jobs will be created even during the process of building factories, and it will help the economy a lot."
Ha said, "The chairmen (of the large companies participating in the investment) are very grateful to President Lee Jae-myung," adding, "It will have provided an opportunity to think about balanced development across the country, which they had not usually considered."
He said, "Upon reflection, (the chairmen) likely thought, 'We need to do this (regional investment),'" and argued, "(Corporations) were in a situation where, because it was hard to easily find places domestically with all the necessary conditions, they were wondering whether they should move (production bases) overseas."
Regarding criticism that the projects are friendly to large companies, Ha said, "That is why we are responding quite strongly to collusion or unfair transactions," adding, "We have made it hard for large companies to do business the old way, so they don't do that and can innovate."
On the power supply issue in the Honam region, where a semiconductor cluster is planned, Ha said, "It is certain that the renewable energy sector will become more active, but it may be difficult to cover everything, so nuclear power may be necessary." He then noted that recent technological advances have improved nuclear safety.
Regarding the recently raised "national dividend," Ha said, "This is not a situation where we are trying to do something radical," adding, "We are considering how to best use the given excess tax revenue." He also said, "President Lee's clear directive is to 'use it to raise the potential growth rate.'"