What have relevant officials done to keep manufacturers at home?
The Gumi branch of the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ) staged a rally in front of Cheong Wa Dae last Sunday, calling for the government to counterbalance LG Electronics' overseas relocation of TV production lines. It was noteworthy that citizens in Gumi, some 250 km southeast of Seoul, showed by action their concerns about the adverse economic effects LG's offshoring will have on the regional economy while local officials and political leaders did nothing.
The economic growth of Daegu and surrounding North Gyeongsang Province has owed much to the industrial park in Gumi created in 1969 by the then Park Chung-hee administration. The nation's two largest electronics manufacturers ― Samsung and LG ― contributed significantly to its expansion.
However, it has become inevitable for the two corporate giants to move abroad to survive the increasingly fierce global competition. Following Samsung's relocation to Vietnam, LG has come to seek an optimal balance between its home factory and overseas plants. Such a strategic shift is understandable, but localities can ill afford to sit and watch these crucial employers go abroad.
Local administrative and political leaders should ask themselves what has made the local chapter of CCEJ, a group seeking economic fair play, to turn their concerns into action. Exports from Gumi Industrial Complex have plunged by 37 percent over the past six years, and its capacity utilization ratio remains at the bottom of the nation. Gumi, once the engine of Korean exports, saw the largest job losses in the country last year, and its unemployment rate has ranked in the top five among all Korean cities for seven years in a row.
LG's move came all the more painful for Gumi as it runs counter to the Moon Jae-in administration's ongoing slogan for the "reshoring" of Korean manufacturers abroad.
Regional leaders and citizens alike should go all out to prevent any further outflows of manufacturing bases. It is the central government, however, that ought to offer bolder incentives to keep core manufacturers at home before trying to bring back those who have already moved overseas. Such a policy switch can save not just regional but national economies as well.
The Gumi branch of the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ) staged a rally in front of Cheong Wa Dae last Sunday, calling for the government to counterbalance LG Electronics' overseas relocation of TV production lines. It was noteworthy that citizens in Gumi, some 250 km southeast of Seoul, showed by action their concerns about the adverse economic effects LG's offshoring will have on the regional economy while local officials and political leaders did nothing.
The economic growth of Daegu and surrounding North Gyeongsang Province has owed much to the industrial park in Gumi created in 1969 by the then Park Chung-hee administration. The nation's two largest electronics manufacturers ― Samsung and LG ― contributed significantly to its expansion.
However, it has become inevitable for the two corporate giants to move abroad to survive the increasingly fierce global competition. Following Samsung's relocation to Vietnam, LG has come to seek an optimal balance between its home factory and overseas plants. Such a strategic shift is understandable, but localities can ill afford to sit and watch these crucial employers go abroad.
Local administrative and political leaders should ask themselves what has made the local chapter of CCEJ, a group seeking economic fair play, to turn their concerns into action. Exports from Gumi Industrial Complex have plunged by 37 percent over the past six years, and its capacity utilization ratio remains at the bottom of the nation. Gumi, once the engine of Korean exports, saw the largest job losses in the country last year, and its unemployment rate has ranked in the top five among all Korean cities for seven years in a row.
LG's move came all the more painful for Gumi as it runs counter to the Moon Jae-in administration's ongoing slogan for the "reshoring" of Korean manufacturers abroad.
Regional leaders and citizens alike should go all out to prevent any further outflows of manufacturing bases. It is the central government, however, that ought to offer bolder incentives to keep core manufacturers at home before trying to bring back those who have already moved overseas. Such a policy switch can save not just regional but national economies as well.
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