Lee’s chip investment push for southwest Korea triggers clash over water, politics and regional development
The opposition PPP smells government pressure and corruption in President Lee's plan for major semiconductor investment in the Honam region, while the ruling DP accuses its rivals of regional discrimination.
President Lee Jae Myung, center, holds hand with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won at a government briefing on major semiconductor investment plans on June 29.JOINT PRESS CORPS
President Lee Jae Myung's announcement of a large-scale semiconductor investment plan in Honam — the region that encompasses Gwangju and the Jeolla provinces — drew sharply divided responses from the ruling and opposition parties.
The conservative People Power Party (PPP) leadership criticized the plan during its supreme council meeting held before Monday's government briefing.
"It's not that we are opposed to semiconductor plants being built in Gwangju and South Jeolla," PPP floor leader Jeong Jeom-sig said. "But the fact that two competing conglomerates are announcing large-scale investment plans for the same location at the same time shows it's a forced decision driven by government intervention."
PPP supreme council member Shin Dong-uk also criticized the proposal.
"Water is the most important resource for semiconductor production, and multiple reports have shown that Gwangju and South Jeolla face water shortages," Rep. Shin said. "People will end up going to prison over this."
Rep. Yang Hyang-ja, a former Samsung Electronics executive who is now a member of the PPP's supreme council, said, "Semiconductor investment should be made because it is an industrial necessity, not a political gift."
Lawmakers representing Gyeonggi's semiconductor belt — Pyeongtaek, Hwaseong and Yongin, home to major Samsung Electronics and SK hynix semiconductor operations — also joined the criticism, expressing concern that the Honam project could divert future investment.
"We stand here representing Hwaseong, Pyeongtaek and Yongin, the heart of Korea's semiconductor industry," said PPP Rep. Yu Eui-dong, who represents Pyeongtaek, and Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok, who represents Hwaseong, during a joint news conference on Monday.
"The government hastily announced a new site for a semiconductor cluster to fit the political schedule ahead of the Democratic Party's national convention," they said.
Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok, left, and People Power Party lawmaker Yu Eui-dong criticize the government's plan to make semiconductor investments in the Honam region, the region that encompasses Gwangju and the Jeolla provinces, on June 29.YONHAP
They also emphasized that the Yongin semiconductor cluster, where production facilities are scheduled to be built starting in 2028, is a site "the government designated as the home of the semiconductor industry through compulsory land acquisition."
Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, which announced plans for large-scale investment in the Honam region on Monday, are preparing to build semiconductor facilities at the Yongin cluster. Samsung Electronics also operates semiconductor production facilities in Pyeongtaek, Hwaseong and Giheung.
PPP Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, who represents Bundang in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, also raised suspicions in a Facebook post on Monday.
"A semiconductor plant in Honam will create countless wealthy landowners," Ahn wrote. "Can anyone say with certainty that none of the owners of the planned factory site are government or ruling party figures?"
The ruling liberal Democratic Party (DP) welcomed the government's announcement while dismissing the opposition's criticism as "an instinctive sense of discrimination."
Senior party spokesperson Kang Jun-hyeon criticized the PPP as "a party incapable of offering any higher-level vision beyond dividing regions" in a written briefing.
"If supporting Honam is political gambling, does balanced regional development mean supporting only Yeongnam?" Kang asked, referring to the region that encompasses Busan, Daegu, Ulsan and the Gyeongsang provinces.
DP Rep. Lee Geon-tae, who is from Yeongam in South Jeolla and is widely expected to run for the party's supreme council at its Aug. 17 convention, welcomed the investment decision.
"In more than 60 years of my life, I never imagined a day like this would come for Gwangju and South Jeolla," Rep. Lee wrote on Facebook. "It brings me to tears."
Rep. Yoon Joon-byeong, chair of the DP's North Jeolla chapter, wrote on Facebook that he hopes Honam's semiconductor ecosystem will include middle fabs, facilities that perform selected semiconductor manufacturing processes, as well as companies producing semiconductor materials, parts and equipment in Jeongeup and Iksan (of North Jeolla), both of which have KTX stations.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
