An artist’s conception of the Guri World Design City (GWDC).

It was back in 1994 that Mayor Park Young-sun began his mayoral career in Guri, east of Seoul. Since he was the first directly-elected mayor of the city, Mayor Park, who has been elected for a fourth term in the June 4 polls, is devoting himself to developing the city. 

Early on, Park, who had passed a higher diplomacy examination, once dreamed of being a diplomat. But Park chose a different path in his life – arduously spending almost 20 years with Guri residents with keen attention to the history of Goguryeo in his mind. This is why Guri has been in the public limelight for academic circles and all walks of life as the nation’s treasure trove of Goguryeo historical relics. Guri is pushing ahead with its so-called World Design City Project, the Korean version of Milan, Italy.

The Guri World Design City (GWDC) Project is one of key tasks Mayor Park’s municipal government will implement aggressively during a sixth publicly elected mayoral term. Here are the excerpts of an interview in which Mayor Park expressed his determination to complete the project in this term.

Guri Mayor Park Young-sun speaks at an opening ceremony of 

the 1st International Design and Development Conference in 2011. 

Question:  Will you give us the gist of the project?

Answer:  The project is a 10-trillion-won mega-project designed to construct the World Design Center by 2020. Guri, a small city of 190,000 citizens, aims to be reborn as an Asian design hub and an international city. The project calls for the construction of a design center that will accommodate 2,000 foreign brand design companies and display and sell interior decorations, furniture, and lighting for deluxe hotels and high-end structures with the goal of creating 110,000 jobs. 

In the neighborhood of the design center will be an apartment complex accommodating tenant company officials, an international school, and three deluxe hotels. The projected design center will hold more than 50 diverse exhibitions annually, attracting 1.8 million foreign visitors and bringing economic effects worth more than 7 trillion won with a concentration of related businesses within a radius of 150 km. 

Q:  Why the World Design Center?

A:   In Europe, the tourism industry is in the doldrums. Look at Asia – such countries as China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Korea, and Kazakhstan have maintained explosive growth, particularly with a boom in the construction of hotels in China. In Korea, the number of deluxe hotel rooms rose only to 15,000, as opposed to a surge of 50,000 to 70,000 hotel rooms seen in China over the past five years.

Where can, then, all the interior decor adorning these deluxe hotels be procured? Deluxe hotels are supposed to be filled with globally renowned designers’ works. A design center is a place where specification sheets are produced and a custom-made infrastructure is built. There is no such facility in Asia. 

American design companies wanting to advance to Asia find themselves in trouble. Tokyo’s land prices are exorbitant along with Japan’s unfavorable living conditions for foreigners. Hong Kong and Singapore lack land parcels large enough to accommodate a design center, which requires between 1.65 million m2 and 3.3 million m2 . 

The next remaining big cities are Shanghai, Beijing, and Seoul. The chairman of the Nature Culture Design International Advisory Board (NIAB) claimed in a letter to Korean ministers that China’s establishment of a design center would not benefit the United States, an indication that Korea is hoped to be a design hub of Asia with their control of related industries. 

Some 2,000 design companies are likely to display their latest design products. A bonded manufacturing plant will be in place to produce products according to ordered specifications, and it will look like High Point, North Carolina in the United States.

Q:  Will you elaborate on the progress of the project?

A:  It was in December 2012 that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT), in recognizing the GWDC project, gave a green light for the relaxation of related greenbelt regulations and other legal procedures. 

The Guri city government submitted a proposal on the relaxation of greenbelt regulations to the Central Urban Planning Committee last Dec. 5. The fourth meeting of the Central City Planning Committee took place and preparations for holding another meeting between with the committee are under way. If things go as planned, restrictions against the greenbelt area will be lifted, and it will be designated as a waterfront project district within this year.  

A view of the 1st International Design and Development Conference in 2011. 

Q:  Will you tell us about the difficulties facing the project?

A: Guri City launched the project in 2009, but the project suffered difficulties in securing investments due to the slumping of the real estate market. The project has gained ground and has successfully attracted high foreign investment. If the GWDC is opened in 2020, it is expected to create 110,000 jobs and yield more than 7 trillion won in revenues. 

The construction of the GWDC will likely make Guri City Asia’s biggest design city. Restrictions on the development of the planned site have discouraged foreign investors, so the central government’s aggressive support is required. 

Korean and foreign dignitaries and design experts, including Guri Mayor Park Young-sun, 

pose for a group photo following the end of the 7th international consultative meeting for the construction of the  Guri World Design City.

Q:  What unique challenges you have faced with the project?

A: The Jamsil Water Supply Source Protection District, which is the source of 2.98 million tons of tap water to 9.19 million people daily, is 550 meters south of the planned site of the GWDC. The Seoul Metropolitan Government sent a letter to the MOLIT asking for the stoppage of the project citing possible water contamination. The construction of the GWDC will prevent water contamination in the tap water source area, rather than being abandoned as it is. The development of Jinjeop County, upstream of Guri City, into a satellite city, has turned out to not be worsening the water quality of the Han River, so worry about water contamination over the development of the GWDC is just an unfounded misgiving.  

Q: What about the probability of foreign investments into the project?

A: An MOU on an investment signed with an American consortium has boosted the project. The consortium, led by Viva Vina, a textile, food, distribution, and investment company, agreed to invest 2 trillion won into the project. The consortium delivered its intent to invest $400 million into Korea via KOTRA in Los Angeles. 

Q: Will you comment on the largest-ever investment into Korea by a Chinese private equity fund?

A: May Tung, a Chinese private equity fund, disclosed its intention to invest 5 trillion won into Korean real estate projects. The fund began to launch its study into an investment into the GWDC project. The fund’s investment is believed to be the largest-ever one in Korea by the foreign private sector.

May Tung has already signed an agreement to bring in 30 billion yuan (4.913 trillion won) into Korea over three occasions within this year. The fund agreed to deposit the first installment of 10 billion yuan (1.638 trillion won) into a Korean bank in one to three months, indicating that the fund believes in the GWDC project. 

Guri Mayor Park Young-sun seen at the 6th international 

consultative meeting for the construction of the  Guri World Design City.

Q:  Would you like to say anything to Guri citizens?

A: I’ve been reelected to the post of mayor for a third time. I extend my wholehearted thanks to the citizens’ great choice. I’ve been devoting myself to pushing ahead with the GWDC project for seven years. The 100,000 Guri citizens joined in a signature-collecting campaign to back the project. The move may be construed as the citizens’ imperative for me to transform Guri City into a brand city.   

I’ll strive to develop Guri City into a self-sufficient city without fail so that Guri citizens can live the happiest lives across the nation. I will do my utmost to retire from the job amidst the applause of 190,000 Guri citizens.  

Profile

Mayor Park, a native of Haenam, Jeollanam-do, graduated from Kongju National University, College of Education, English Department and obtained a master’s degree in urban administration from Yonsei University Graduate School of Public Administration.

Park, who passed the 9th higher diplomacy examination, served as an official at the Korean Embassy in Spain, the Local Administration Bureau at the now-defunct Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Political Secretary’s Office at Cheong Wa Dae before being appointed the seventh mayor of Guri City. He delivered a speech as Korea’s representative to a global mayors’ convention at the United Nations headquarters, elected directly as the second, fourth, and fifth mayor of Guri City by electorates. He also served as a professor of Hanyang University Graduate School of Local Autonomy.

He has authored such books as “Goguryeo is the Future,” “Miraculous Drama Awakening the Dawn,” and “Song of Love for Guri from the Heart.”