Park Jumin, a lawmaker of the Democratic Party of Korea, said on the 28th that he met with institutions around Hongneung in Dongdaemun District, Seoul, and discussed Hongneung's vision and tasks as a bio cluster for northeastern Seoul.
According to the lawmaker's office, on the 26th Park visited the "Hongneung Forum," in which institutions around Hongneung are participating, and discussed expanding Hongneung's research, residential, and education infrastructure and ensuring policy continuity.
At the meeting, Moon Gil-joo, chair of the Hongneung Forum board (former head of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST)), explained Hongneung's vision and direction, and Kim Hyeon-woo, head of the Seoul Bio Hub, explained the role of Seoul—especially Hongneung—in the bio industry.
Chair Moon Gil-joo and Head Kim Hyeon-woo cited as strengths of Hongneung its 7,000 Ph.D.-level talents, about 120,000 university students, four state-run research institutes including KIST, four university hospitals, and innovation support organizations such as the Seoul Bio Hub. In addition, Head Kim Woo-hyeon especially emphasized that Hongneung, as a research and development (R&D)-centered bio cluster, has differentiated strengths from Songdo and Osong.
Despite the strengths of the Hongneung area, participants that day noted a lack of local cultural infrastructure, living infrastructure for researchers, and educational environments for researchers' children. Outdated residential, cultural, and educational environments were cited as reasons foreign researchers and international students leave Hongneung, and the need for policy continuity from the central government and the Seoul Metropolitan Government was also highlighted.
Lawmaker Park Jumin said, "Centered on Hongneung, universities, general hospitals, and research institutes are concentrated in northeastern Seoul," and proposed, "I hope we can jointly build the role of northeastern Seoul centered on Hongneung both domestically and internationally."