Success Happy

Interview Governor Stressed Urgent Needs for New Int l Airport

Summary: Kim Tae hwan Governor of Jeju Special Self Governing Province Jeju special province rsquo s governor Kim Tae hwan has received more supports from the island and the Korean peninsula since the survival from a recall election Citizens on the southern resort island cast ballots in the nation`s first gubernatorial recall vote It was called by a coalition of civic groups campaigning against his plans to allow a naval base on the southern coastal area of the island However as the local office of the National Election Commission declared it invalid the governor is likely to spur his plans to develop the island including construction for new airport and naval base introduction of foreigners only casinos and profit oriented hospitals and installation of cable railways He stressed the importance of construction of new international airport in the island operating for 24 hour basis to prepare for future demands in air travels ldquo Access from to Jeju island is one of the most urgent issues to address because it has to be ready for the age of 10 million visitors to the island and the new airport project should start sooner or later given that it takes at least 10 years for the airport to be fully prepared to accept such a volume of people rdquo the governor said The Asia Business had an interview with the governor Kim to hear about current tasks on him and the future plan for better future of the island The following is the excerpt from the conversation with him △What is the plan to host G 20 summit next year Jeju island has made a lot of efforts to upgrade its image to the world rsquo s best by hosting a variety of international events so far In particular the special summit between Korea and ASEAN last June was one of the most successful international events which give the world opportunity to appreciate the island rsquo s prestige Now the residents are full of pride that their city is ready to host any kinds of international meetings and prepare the global seminars with perfection by making the most of previous experience and know how The Korea rsquo s first site to name world natural heritage is all set to go for G20 meeting Jeju Island will be able to bring the genuine beauty of Korea to the world with distinctive features compared to its competitors including Seoul Incheon and Busan The special government in the island will do everything to be the venue of next year rsquo s summit meeting △ Tell us about the present and future of attraction for foreign investment to the island Foreign investment is one of top priorities that I am working on during the tenure Massive monetary input is not choice but must have in order to reorganize the existing local structure for industry with insufficient capital and create the growth engines with four plus one core industry However no investor would place a single dime into the place where nothing is ready Soon after the special government was set into the island a lot of segmented bureaus were integrated and a new administration with one stop service started to be operated By doing so the process timing for setting up the business in the island has been shortened from 22 months to 8 months The government also cut half the minimum investment from 10 million dollars to 5 million dollar I even led the sales group for investment to Qatar to withdraw attention from oil makers As a result Jeju island was successfully able to seal the 9 investment deals drawing a total of 2 71 trillion won worth of foreign investment including the construction of a Convention Anchor Hotel and Burjaya Yereh Resor In particular the special government in Jeju will try to take a lead in attracting Chinese investors under the slogan of lsquo the year to forward for investment attraction rsquo As a start the island signed a understanding of memorandum MOU with a Chinese investor to put 500 million dollars into the tourism development project The island has already achieved the goal of attracting and realizing the investment of 2 billion dollars respectively and I will also try to bring about some 20 enterprises into Jeju Island △ Tell us about the present of future plan for projects of tourism industrial and medical globalization Jeju Island has a very unique governing system compared to other cities in Korea For instance it is only possible in Jeju for foreigners to establish profit oriented hospitals and educational institutes in Korea I believe that the island would be able to play a educational hub and a Mecca for medical industry in Northeastern Asia by introducing world class schools and hospitals The island is pushing forward for core 6 projects for development including an English education town a myth and history theme park a healthcare town a resort type residential complex Seogwipo tourism port and a high tech science and technology complex A total of 7 54 trillion won is going to be poured into the projects under the goal of completion by 2015 At present the performance in tourism field is outstanding with the expectation to exceed the goal of having 6 million tourists and 2 55 trillion won worth tourism income this year The island is expected to see the year of 2010 with 6 6 million tourists spending 3 trillion won Jeju Island upgraded its image as the international hot spot for both tour and business along with diverse events including the ASEAN Republic of Korea Commemorative Summit and opening of the Korea rsquo s first local tax free store In addition I will place an active promotion scheme home and abroad for eco friendly tourism and being in the list of top 7 nature wonders in the world △What is your vision for Jeju Island I want the island to be the Asia rsquo s best international free city which is competitive enough to compare with the globally well known cities such as Hong Kong Singapore or Hawaii Geopolitically located at the center of Northeast Asia Jeju Island is equipped with fluent and well developed infrastructures like information technology and bio related skills along with the beautiful nature selected as the world nature heritage I am certain that the island can level up its brand image as the pearl of Northeastern area by succeeding in integrating key industries including tourism education medical business and eco friendly and cutting edge technology I will also do my best for the local and global community to fully appreciate Jeju rsquo s competitiveness as the island for get away and tour global education green life and peace 아주경제= 신기림 기자 kirimi99 ajnews co kr 아주경제=ajnews co kr 무단전재 배포금지 Kim Tae hwan Governor of Jeju Special Self Governing Province Jeju special province rsquo s governor Kim Tae hwan has received more supports from the island and the Korean peninsula since the survival from a recall election Citizens on the southern resort island cast ballots in the nation`s first gubernatorial recall vote It was called by a coalition of civic groups campaigning against his plans to allow a naval base on the southern coastal area of the island However as the local office of the National Election Commission declared it invalid the governor is likely to spur his plans to develop the island including construction for new airport and naval base introduction of foreigners only casinos and profit oriented hospitals and installation of cable railways He stressed the importance of construction of new international airport in the island operating for 24 hour basis to prepare for future demands in air travels ldquo Access from to Jeju island is one of the most urgent issues to address because it has to be ready for the age of 10 million visitors to the island and the new airport project should start sooner or later given that it takes at least 10 years for the airport to be fully prepared to accept such a volume of people rdquo the governor said The Asia Business had an interview with the governor Kim to hear about current tasks on him and the future plan for better future of the island The following is the excerpt from the conversation with him △What is the plan to host G 20 summit next year Jeju island has made a lot of efforts to upgrade its image to the world rsquo s best by hosting a variety of international events so far In particular the special summit between Korea and ASEAN last June was one of the most successful international events which give the world opportunity to appreciate the island rsquo s prestige Now the residents are full of pride that their city is ready to host any kinds of international meetings and prepare the global seminars with perfection by making the most of previous experience and know how The Korea rsquo s first site to name world natural heritage is all set to go for G20 meeting Jeju Island will be able to bring the genuine beauty of Korea to the world with distinctive features compared to its competitors including Seoul Incheon and Busan The special government in the island will do everything to be the venue of next year rsquo s summit meeting △ Tell us about the present and future of attraction for foreign investment to the island Foreign investment is one of top priorities that I am working on during the tenure Massive monetary input is not choice but must have in order to reorganize the existing local structure for industry with insufficient capital and create the growth engines with four plus one core industry However no investor would place a single dime into the place where nothing is ready Soon after the special government was set into the island a lot of segmented bureaus were integrated and a new administration with one stop service started to be operated By doing so the process timing for setting up the business in the island has been shortened from 22 months to 8 months The government also cut half the minimum investment from 10 million dollars to 5 million dollar I even led the sales group for investment to Qatar to withdraw attention from oil makers As a result Jeju island was successfully able to seal the 9 investment deals drawing a total of 2 71 trillion won worth of foreign investment including the construction of a Convention Anchor Hotel and Burjaya Yereh Resor In particular the special government in Jeju will try to take a lead in attracting Chinese investors under the slogan of lsquo the year to forward for investment attraction rsquo As a start the island signed a understanding of memorandum MOU with a Chinese investor to put 500 million dollars into the tourism development project The island has already achieved the goal of attracting and realizing the investment of 2 billion dollars respectively and I will also try to bring about some 20 enterprises into Jeju Island △ Tell us about the present of future plan for projects of tourism industrial and medical globalization Jeju Island has a very unique governing system compared to other cities in Korea For instance it is only possible in Jeju for foreigners to establish profit oriented hospitals and educational institutes in Korea I believe that the island would be able to play a educational hub and a Mecca for medical industry in Northeastern Asia by introducing world class schools and hospitals The island is pushing forward for core 6 projects for development including an English education town a myth and history theme park a healthcare town a resort type residential complex Seogwipo tourism port and a high tech science and technology complex A total of 7 54 trillion won is going to be poured into the projects under the goal of completion by 2015 At present the performance in tourism field is outstanding with the expectation to exceed the goal of having 6 million tourists and 2 55 trillion won worth tourism income this year The island is expected to see the year of 2010 with 6 6 million tourists spending 3 trillion won Jeju Island upgraded its image as the international hot spot for both tour and business along with diverse events including the ASEAN Republic of Korea Commemorative Summit and opening of the Korea rsquo s first local tax free store In addition I will place an active promotion scheme home and abroad for eco friendly tourism and being in the list of top 7 nature wonders in the world △What is your vision for Jeju Island I want the island to be the Asia rsquo s best international free city which is competitive enough to compare with the globally well known cities such as Hong Kong Singapore or Hawaii Geopolitically located at the center of Northeast Asia Jeju Island is equipped with fluent and well developed infrastructures like information technology and bio related skills along with the beautiful nature selected as the world nature heritage I am certain that the island can level up its brand image as the pearl of Northeastern area by succeeding in integrating key industries including tourism education medical business and eco friendly and cutting edge technology I will also do my best for the local and global community to fully appreciate Jeju rsquo s competitiveness as the island for get away and tour global education green life and peace 아주경제= 신기림 기자 kirimi99 ajnews co kr 아주경제=ajnews co kr 무단전재 배포금지

Image Dimensions: 371 x 512