Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
Korea’s survival strategy: Lee’s high-stakes bet on balanced regional development
President Lee Jae Myung attends a town hall meeting at Pukyong National University in Busan, July 25. Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-seog
By Anna J. Park
President emphasizes balanced regional development as core strategy
Since taking office, President Lee Jae Myung has emphasized decentralization and regional growth, repeatedly highlighting the need for balanced regional development to address the growing concentration of people and capital in the Seoul metropolitan area.
Among other problems, this overconcentration has fueled extreme housing inequality — the OECD notes that Korea has the widest gap among its member countries, with home prices in the largest cities exceeding those in smaller cities by more than 200 percent as of 2023.
To address this issue, Lee pledged during his election campaign to establish a National Assembly branch and a second presidential office in Sejong, located in the central region of the country, as part of his plan to turn the city into a fully functional administrative capital.
Lee acknowledged that although Sejong has grown steadily since its establishment in 2012 through the partial relocation of central government ministries, it continues to face criticism as an incomplete administrative capital.
“Sejong is the heart of Korea’s administration and the center of balanced national development,” Lee declared about three weeks before the presidential election held in early June.
Continuing his core policy agenda after taking office, the president unveiled his administration’s "5 Poles, 3 Special Zones" regional development strategy — a blueprint aimed at fundamentally reshaping Korea’s growth model and addressing the nation’s long-standing overconcentration in the Seoul metropolitan area.
Under the strategy, the Lee administration envisions transforming Korea from a single-core metropolitan system into five major megacity regions, alongside three special autonomous provinces. The initiative aims to distribute economic opportunities and public resources more evenly across the country, laying the groundwork for balanced and sustainable regional growth.
President Lee Jae Myung and the heads of local governments across the nation take part in the national pledge during a meeting with provincial governors and mayors at the presidential office in Seoul, Aug. 1. Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-seog
In his first meeting with provincial governors and mayors on Aug. 1, Lee reiterated that decentralization and balanced growth are essential for the nation’s survival. He criticized the inefficiencies of the current metropolitan-centric model and pledged to respect and support local governments’ development strategies, emphasizing that future policy and budget decisions would prioritize regional equity.
“Balanced development is not a favor to the provinces; it is a survival strategy for the nation,” he stressed at the meeting.
Lee further noted that while the Seoul-centered system once drove rapid economic growth, it now hampers sustainable development. He urged regional leaders to present their most effective local strategies, promising that the central government would respect and reflect those ideas in policy decisions.
Building on the president’s vision, Chairman Kim Kyoung-soo, who leads the national committee for regional growth, unveiled a strategic blueprint in late September outlining a plan to create regional megacities across the country. Kim said the mission of the Lee administration is to ensure that regional growth becomes synonymous with national growth.
“This blueprint integrates and coordinates previously fragmented growth policies into a unified framework based on the '5 Poles, 3 Special Zones' regional system,” the committee said. “Government ministries, local governments and the private sector will work together to build a new future for Korea.”
President Lee Jae Myung holds a town hall meeting with residents of Gwangju and South Jeolla Province at the National Asian Culture Center in Gwangju, June 25. Courtesy of the presidential office
Lee’s commitment to local development has also extended into diplomacy.
In a Sept. 30 meeting with then-Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, the two leaders agreed to meet in each other’s regional cities, beginning with Busan, and to exchange insights on shared challenges, including regional decline and the overconcentration of population in capital areas.
“Korea and Japan face similar issues, and one of them is excessive metropolitan concentration,” Lee noted. “Prime Minister Ishiba’s interest in balanced regional growth is something I deeply resonate with.”
During the APEC Summit held in Gyeongju at the end of last month, Lee met Japan’s new Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, and informally agreed to meet next in her hometown of Nara Prefecture, signaling continued attention to regional engagement.
His consistent message on balanced growth has been echoed throughout his nationwide town hall meetings, held in Gwangju, Daejeon, Busan, and most recently, Daegu.
At each event, Lee reiterated that regional revitalization is not optional but essential for the country’s continued prosperity. He stressed the need for stronger incentives for provincial development and policy measures that ensure all regions share equally in national progress.
“Balanced development is no longer about government generosity or pity,” he said during his Busan town hall meeting on July 25. “It is now an unavoidable national survival strategy to ensure Korea’s sustainable growth.”
At the Daegu town hall meeting on Oct. 24, Lee called balanced development “the government’s most urgent priority,” describing it as “perhaps the nation’s last escape route to survival.”
As a solution, he explained that the government plans to provide incentives for regional areas and ensure that all future policy decisions — whether related to corporate placement, infrastructure, or legislation — take into account their impact on regional development and national balance.
A panoramic view of Sejong city, where key national facilities, including the National Assembly's Sejong Building and the President’s second office, are scheduled to be built. Korea Times file
According to officials from the presidential office, Lee remains deeply committed to decentralization and hopes to eventually work from Sejong city’s presidential office before completing his term, hoping to fulfill his long-standing promise.
That commitment was reaffirmed during a Cabinet meeting on Sept. 16, where he reiterated plans to build a second presidential office in Sejong city as part of his campaign pledge.
“Creating a nation where every region enjoys equal opportunities for growth is the surest path to a sustainable future for Korea," Lee stressed.