A view of the Gov. Yang Seung-jo of Chungcheong nam-do, 7th R, and members of his mission and top managers of the French company posing for a photo session after signing an MOU for $500 million investment to expand and newly build a poly propylene plant in Daesan, South Chungcheong Province on April 21 at the head office of Total of France in Paris. (Photo: Chungcheong nam-do Province)

Gov. Yang Seung-jo of Chungcheong nam-do returned home on April 15 from a five-day mission to the U.S. and France, where he and his team attracted a large amount of foreign investments for the province.

The Korean province said on April 21 that the mission led by the governor received a pledge of $500 million from Total of France to expand its naptha cracking facilities in Seosan and Daesan, and to build a poly propylene plant in Daesan over the next five years. The French company signed the MOUs with the two cities when the mission headed by the governor visited Paris.

The mission also signed an MOU with Air Products Co., an industrial gas supplier in the U.S., committing to invest $30 million in the next five years to build an industrial gas production plant in Cheonan to supply the gas to foreign companies’ plants in the Cheonan Foreign Investment Complex.

A U.S. company named “D” plans to buy a lot with a total space of 6,603.7 sq. meters in Cheonan and invest $5 million to expand its chip material production plant.

Gov. Yang said the province is ready to provide one-stop administrative services in issuing various licenses for the start and completion of the industrial projects, along with top incentives for investors.

The governor also noted the province’s easy access to the main highways, railroads and harbors - not only in the country, but also overseas, and Northeast Asia in particular, which should appeal especially to foreign investors as part of many of incentives for investment in the province.

Yang also said he and the mission got a very positive response from a French industrial mineral production firm on the proposal to locate its plant in a 40,000-sq.-meter lot in the Industrial Complex in the Dangjin Songshin 2-2 Districts, along with other incentives.

South Chungcheong Province, Chungcheongnam-do, literally “Chungcheong Southern Province”, abbreviated as Chungnam, is a province in the west of South Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the south-western half of the former Chungcheong Province and remained a province of Korea until the country’s division in 1945, thereafter becoming part of South Korea. In 2012, the provincial capital moved from Daejeon to Hongseong.

Chungcheongnam-do is South Korea’s richest province, with a 2012 GDP per capita of $56,133. It is by far South Korea’s fastest growing region, with an average GDP growth of 9.7% in 2001-2007 that accelerated to 12.4% in 2010. Such rapid growth transformed it from a mostly agricultural to a highly industrialized economy in the 21st century.

Along with Gangwon, Chungnam is the only province outside the Seoul Capital Area to be served by the Seoul Metropolitan Subway, with Seoul Subway Line 1 passing Cheonan and Asan. Multimillion-dollar projects are being developed, such as New Asan City centered on the newly built Cheonan-Asan Station that connects Chungnam’s largest city, Cheonan, to Seoul Station in less than 30 minutes via the KTX bullet train.

Geography

The province is part of the Hoseo region, and is bounded to the west by the Yellow Sea, to the north by Gyeonggi-do province, to the south by Jeollabuk-do province, and to the east by Chungcheongbuk-do province. Its area is 8,204 km2(3,168 sq mi) as of 2012.

Resources

One third of the province’s area is under cultivation. Aside from agriculture, marine products are of importance. There are 220 square kilometres 85 sq mi) of exposed beach which is used to produce salt by solar evaporation.

There is coal mining, but gold and silver mines are also found in Chungcheongnam-do, as is Monazite (a rare thorium bearing mineral) and zircon.