President Yoon Seok-yeol announced on the 15th that he would promote the development of Jeju New Port and the designation of a pilot operation area for urban air transportation (UAM), also known as a flying taxi, so that Jeju Special Self-Governing Province can establish itself as a world-class culture, tourism and resort city.
At the 29th people’s livelihood debate held at the Jeju Free International City Development Center (JDC) this afternoon, President Yoon spoke about ‘development of tourism through connectivity and specialization, industrial growth leading to cleanliness and innovation, and improvement of settlement conditions with a focus on practical change.’ Three visions for the development of Jeju Island were presented.
First, regarding the Jeju New Port and Jeju 2nd Airport, which were his election pledges, President Yoon said, “We will actively cooperate and support Jeju Island to ensure that the Jeju New Port is promoted smoothly.” He added, “We will carefully take care to ensure that related procedures, such as future preliminary feasibility studies, are promptly implemented, and Jeju New Port will be implemented quickly.” “We will develop it into a base for shipping logistics and cruises,” he said.
He added, “The construction of the second airport will also be completed quickly through close cooperation with Jeju Island.”
President Yoon also announced a plan to “make UAM an axis of Jeju’s tourism infrastructure.” He emphasized, “The central government will carefully and meticulously support UAM to help develop Jeju’s tourism infrastructure.”
In the industrial field, he said, “Jeju has the potential to become a global hub for green hydrogen,” and promised, “We will invest 56 billion won in large-scale green hydrogen demonstration projects by 2026 to support securing green hydrogen production technology suited to our country’s circumstances.” .
In addition, he said, “The government plans to open a public offering early next year for a project to support the installation of a clean hydrogen production facility that produces hydrogen with biogas generated from food waste, and if Jeju applies, we will actively review it.”
Citing the fact that Jeju has the highest penetration rate of electric vehicles in the country, President Yoon announced, “Starting next year, we will actively pursue a pilot project tailored to Jeju Island to recycle waste batteries into agricultural machinery and energy storage systems (ESS).”
They also promised to improve medical infrastructure. President Yoon said, “Currently, 700,000 people live in Jeju and more than 10 million people visit each year, so the demand for medical care is increasing. However, because the treatment area is tied to Seoul, there is no higher-level general hospital, and the number of doctors per 1,000 people is 1.8, with 3.6 doctors in Seoul. “It’s only about half,” he said, promising, “We will quickly designate a tertiary general hospital in Jeju Island.”
President Yoon emphasized, “Considering regional characteristics, we will re-establish the medical treatment area, improve systems related to tertiary general hospitals, and actively promote support for physical medical facilities necessary for tertiary general hospitals.”
He added, “We will support the expansion of the functions of Jeju National University Hospital and Seogwipo Medical Center to respond to seriously ill patients and infectious diseases without disruption.”
In the Q&A that followed, President Yoon proposed to unconditionally designate a tertiary general hospital as soon as possible and expand necessary medical facilities with national funds, drawing loud applause and cheers from the attendees.
It was also noticeable that he was directly taking care of local issues. President Yoon mentioned that he had said during his presidential candidate days that he would “make Jeju’s Gangjeong Port into a cruise hub,” and said, “I know there are complaints that the time for tourists to actually stay in Jeju is small because the immigration screening takes a long time,” and asked the Ministry of Justice to request the Immigration and Immigration Office. I asked if there were any plans in place to expedite the review.
In his closing remarks, President Yoon promised to resolve the gap in Jeju Island’s medical infrastructure and foster talent by closely linking Jeju education and local industries.
President Yoon said, “It was wrong to put Jeju Island in the Seoul area and use regional hospital standards,” and added, “We are pushing for Jeju Island’s special medical reform in a very thorough manner so that families and patients do not have to worry when an emergency situation occurs.” “So the government will actively provide support so that residents do not have to worry,” he emphasized.
Lastly, he said, “I thought I would be able to come (to Jeju Island) quickly when I started the People’s Livelihood Debate, but I came too late, so I feel very sorry for the residents of the island. However, I will do my best to support Jeju Island in any way.”
Economy Queen Reporter Kim Jeong-hyeon Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
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