Minister Kim Jung-kwan of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said the government first proposed sites to corporations during the process of selecting the Honam-region semiconductor production base.
On the 12th, the Minister appeared at a plenary session of the Trade. Industry Energy. SMEs. and Startups Committee in the National Assembly and, to a question from People Power Party lawmaker Kim Do-eup asking "Who first proposed the Honam site," answered, "Corporations needed land, and the government proposed sites for the needed land." He added, "We proposed a range of sites, including Gwangju, and the corporations made the final decision."
To a question from People Power Party lawmaker Woo Jae-joon asking what other candidate sites there were besides Gwangju, he said "There were," but did not disclose specific regions.
The Honam semiconductor cluster will be created by using the site of the Gwangju military airport. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are pursuing large-scale investments to build two semiconductor fabs each, four in total.
The Minister signaled a push for speed, citing the construction pace of TSMC's plant in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan.
He said, "In the case of the TSMC plant in Kumamoto, Japan, it took 27 months from announcement to completion," adding, "Ideally, shouldn't we be faster than Japan?"
In addition, the Minister said he is consulting with relevant ministries to include a special provision for exceptions to the 52-hour workweek in the "mega special zone special act," which will be enacted within the year.
When Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Won-i asked about the specifics of the working-hours exceptions, the Minister explained, "We are discussing various forms, including a white-collar exemption and flexible working-hours systems."
He also said they are discussing expanding the unit for managing overtime from the current weekly basis to monthly, quarterly, and semiannual, and extending the application periods of flexible and selective working-hours systems. To a question on whether exceptions to the 52-hour workweek are included in the discussion, he answered, "Yes."