Off the Beaten Path

Discovering Gyeonggi

by Lydia Moss

A can-do attitude gives this flourishing South Korean province its big-business buzz.

Geyonggi? No, it’s not a Korean beef specialty. If you have visited Korea, you probably have visited Gyeonggi (pronounced Kyong-Key) without even realizing it. Simply travel from Seoul, the country’s bustling capital, in any direction and you’ve arrived. While sprawling Seoul (officially called Seoul Special City, somewhat like Washington, D.C.), has the lion’s share of congestion and pollution, the surrounding countryside is fast becoming South Korea’s global tiger. In fact, many families are moving away from Seoul to this high-tech region for a better quality of life.

Today, Gyeonggi’s savvy, highly aggressive local government is placing this province on the business map and positioning it as the economic gateway to northeast Asia. Gyeonggi officials travel in the fast lane, creating a powerhouse of a province that is almost impossible to resist. Although South Korea as a whole is about the size of the state of Maine, Gyeonggi accounts for a mere 10 percent of the country. Its population of 10 million (23 million if you include Seoul) includes 31 cities and counties. With space more abundant, it is the headquarters for many of Korea’s largest conglomerates. Most business-people however, prefer to stay in Seoul, which is never more than an hour and a half from Gyeonggi.

It is difficult to imagine the South Korea that once was dubbed the “Hermit Kingdom.” Today, it offers an excellent infrastructure (two international airports; the state-of-the-art Incheon, which opened in 2002 and Gimpo, now mostly used for domestic destinations), a large rail network, several major highways and large harbors. South Korea is home to the world’s largest shipbuilding industry; the third-largest semiconductor industry, the fourth-largest electronics industry, and ranks fifth in automobile manufacturing. Economic strength and a stable government have made conditions for investing extremely attractive to business giants from all over the world despite the country’s corruption and scandal problems.

Located midway between Japan, the world’s second-largest economy, and China, its largest potential market, Gyeonggi is only two hours by air from Beijing and Tokyo. Other factors luring business are a highly developed information-technology infrastructure and a skilled and educated work force. Government subsides for creating jobs and employee training are also available.

Taking full advantage of these perks, Gyeonggi officials guide foreign investors to create seamless relationships and treat them on a par with Korean businesspeople. When Merck and HOYA planned to invest in Taiwan, Gyeonggi officials stepped in and lured them here. With this kind of support, it is not surprising that Gyeonggi already has attracted more than 850 corporate research institutes and about 70 foreign high-tech companies bringing investments totaling $12.6 billion and the creation of 58,000 new jobs.

Well-known residents include Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest consumer electronics company (think cell phones, flat-panel televisions), located in Suwon, Gyeonggi, just south of Seoul. To develop innovative, new products, Samsung recently opened Asia’s largest research and development center; it’s the size of 30 football fields. Hopes are high that this giant facility one day will sprout the next Sony or Apple-level innovation.

Korea’s auto giants, Hyundai, Kia, Ssangyong and GM Daewoo, all are located in Gyeonggi, as are Ford, 3M and Coca Cola. Auto parts comprise another major growth area to the extent that Gyeonggi is considered Korea’s auto parts center. Triggering this growth is the massive markets in China and Japan, which are emerging as the world’s largest automobile consumers and producers. (Auto parts account for 70 percent to 80 percent of automobile production costs). Recognizing these factors, such heavyweights as Siemens VDO Automotive AG, the auto parts unit of the German Siemens AG, is investing $200 million to build a production and research facility in Gyeonggi to concentrate on automobile electronic components. When Gyeonggi officials learned of Siemens’ interest in Asia, they visited the company’s top echelon and won them over. After Siemens’ executives learned that their large export container trucks were stymied along a narrow, underdeveloped road, which interrupted production, Gyeonggi officials quickly invested $2 million and upgraded the road. According to Sun Woo Hyun, president of Siemens’ Korean operation, “the swift service was one of the reasons to invest in Gyeonggi.”