Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Incheon City, Ongjin County team up for future mobility
Incheon Metropolitan City Mayor Park Nam-chun speaks during an event for a joint agreement on the personal air vehicles business at the Ongjin County building in Incheon, west of Seoul. Courtesy of Incheon Metropolitan Government
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
The Incheon Metropolitan Government said Monday it will join forces with related agencies to create a demonstration center for future personal air vehicles (PAVs) and designate a special liberalization zone for PAVs.
The city government signed a business agreement with Ongjin County, Incheon Port Authority and the Central Regional Coast Guard of Ongjin County at the county office to foster the urban mobility business in an effort to strengthen its vision for future mobility.
Under the agreement, the organizations plan to join forces to allow Incheon to be designated as a special zone for drones and other aerial vehicles in November.
Incheon Metropolitan Government previously applied for Jawol Island in Ongjin County as a target area for the special zone.
If Jawol Island is selected by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport as a special liberalization zone, the city government plans to establish an “Incheon PAV Demonstration Support Center” there and accelerate research and development for commercialization of PAVs.
Starting with the project to test the development of routes from Jawol Island through Dukjeok Island to Ijak Island in 2022, the city government plans to carry out demonstration projects with the aim of commercializing them by 2025, including transferring of human and physical resources in connection with the Incheon Port Authority in 2023, and the development of island travel routes in cooperation with the Incheon Tourism Organization in 2024.
If designated, it can receive benefits such as safety certification and flight approval under the jurisdiction of the transport ministry, and radio wave certification from the Ministry of Science and ICT.
The city government has been working on a project to produce PAV prototypes since being selected to do so by the transport ministry in 2018. It plans to open and test-run prototypes next year, since it has formed a consortium with companies specializing in PAVs, as well as Incheon Techno Park and universities. It also plans to open and test-run prototypes next year.
“We will closely cooperate with the government and related agencies so that Jawol Island can be designated as a special liberalization zone. The project will be focused on fostering the PAV industry as a future promising business that leads the future transportation revolution,” Incheon Mayor Park Nam-chun said.