On Korea's Jigsaw, Urban Footprint, and Urban Replanning

If you're a frequent flyer on my Korean errlines, you've had your fill of rants about recurring blunders in urban planning, the persistence of obsolete visions of urbanism, or (re)development equations that totally ignore plummeting demographics.

Well criticizing is easy. Urban harmony is like life or democracy: a very delicate, dynamic balance of power, a complex, evolutive system of checks and balances. No one will ever achieve perfection, and that's the beauty of it.

Besides, I see some glimmers of hope. Korea has eventually started worrying seriously about its shrinking population, seeking more inter-regional solidarity and cooperation, thinking about reviving ailing city centers in smarter ways... 

Korea is starting to realize that the real estate paradigm it's been addicted to for decades has become a Ponzi scheme, a sub-zero sum game where eventually everybody loses, even the wealthy ones who won't be able to resell their 'luxury condos' with a profit after paying much more for them than they would have for the most outrageous Manhattan penthouses.

Korea is starting to realize that it can't afford 'affordable housing' if that means building apartment blocks in greenbelt areas, that when a 'new town' succeeds somewhere, it means that somewhere else, an older town in depleting.

Korea is starting to realize that it can't keep adding new non-matching pieces to an ever growing jigsaw puzzle on an ever shrinking table, that these absurd urban footprint dynamics can't be sustained any longer.

The 5th Comprehensive National Territorial Plan, which covers the most critical 2020-2040 period, already mentions sustainability and other sound principles, but all is not set in marble and a lot has happened since it was released 5 years ago: rural desertification and fertility rate diminution accelerated dramatically, the GTX and other projects reshuffled whole decks... So a revised version is expected next year, for the 2026-2040 period.

Improving inter-regional solidarity and cooperation remains a key goal, particularly where they prove already challenging at the intra-regional level because of political divisions or fierce city rivalries. 

In addition to their autonomy, such special self-governing provinces as Jeollabuk-do or the recently upgraded 'Gangwon State' don't have to deal with special cities punching holes in their maps. In comparison, Gyeonggi-do must cope not only with giant neighbors nesting in its midst (Seoul and Incheon*), but also with a complex history of city creation explaining odd administrative shapes, or new towns stretching over different cities (e.g. Dongtan).

Granting a special status to a local government was generally done without much concern for the impacts around, which prevented all parties from reaching their full potential.

Wherever you stand on the fierce political fight over the creation of Sejong City (the left wanted to move the capital city to a new, central location to balance development across South Korea - the right refused to undermine Seoul and maintained part of the government there), you have to admit that from an urbanism point of view, things could have been done a bit better.

We're not talking Brasilia or Nusantara, a new capital erected far away from existing hubs: Sejong City seats right* next to the metropolitan city of Daejeon, South Korea's 5th largest cit, its central hub, and already the seat of several  central administrations, and right next to Cheongju, Chungcheongnam-do's capital.

Daejeon lies less than one hour away from Seoul via KTX but no, Sejong City must not enjoy express connectivity with the 'old' capital because then civil servants would commute instead of moving to Sejong**. And no, Daejeon's subway shouldn't come all the way to Sejong's vital parts. At its inception, it's almost as if Sejong City was designed as a local competitor instead of a national facilitator.

17 years after its creation, Sejong claims 400k souls, Daejeon remains around 1.5M, and Cheongju inched up from 650 to 720k. Common sense would have led to something more  rational, even simply two cities instead of three: the regional capital Cheongju and a-name-it-whatever-you-fancy-as-long-as-you-spare-local-susceptibilities national capital bis. If arranged harmoniously, I bet the latter would be today a thriving 2.5-3M strong metropolis.

Mind you, both Daejeon and Sejong are faring relatively well nowadays, but I'm not surprised to see the Sejong City - Daejeon - Chungnam - Chungbuk ensemble included in the potential revisions to Korea's 5th CNTP. Some consistency would clearly make the meta-region more competitive internationally - with the caveat that it wouldn't present an official one-stop front. 

Same with 'sudogwon', the capital region (Seoul-Incheon-Gyeonggi-do): unlike say the Ile de France region that encompasses Paris and its surroundings, it doesn't really exist as an official entity with representatives. It does make sense for the national government to be directly involved in an area representing half the nation's population and GDP, but the World's 4th metropolitan bloc can't fully leverage its potential. Of course, adding another administrative layer and the tensions that go with them, particularly with dwindling resources, may not necessarily be the panacea. Some even envision Daejeon + Sejong + Chungnam + Chungbuk as an 'ultra-wide megacity' - at least that would avoid the ego problem of who gets to be granted the regional capital status...

The debates promise to be complex and animated, but it's important to get every stakeholder involved, to identify all the impacts of each option, to learn from past mistakes, to minimize / optimize the urban footprint, to think urbanism beyond cities, towns, and other labels, wherever humans decided to settle or to build (be it a road, a remote factory, a farm, or even a field), and not to build for builders' sake.

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* If the cities are administratively continuous, there's no actual urban continuum... but then again, few cities in Korea excel at urban continuity.

** Likewise, I still can't stomach the fact that the railway from Seoul to Incheon Airport was deliberately delayed until a few years after inauguration because that would have hurt taxi businesses. Or that Songdo didn't have a subway from day one (hello? a ginormous polder built from scratch?). At least nowadays, if new big fat greenfield 'new towns' keep popping up, most of them include a railway connection.

A postcard from LEE Ungno's Hongseong

From his Hongseong birthplace, LEE Ungno enjoyed a view on two mountains he revered: he nicknamed the tall and rocky one 'father', and the gentler one 'mother'.

Unlike Cezanne's Montagne Sainte Victoire, these mountains don't appear recurrently his work, but the artist did draw them from memory in his prison cell, and certainly countless times in his mind during his exile in France. LEE died without seeing them again.

One more reason to enjoy the appeasing 'appasan' on a lovely August day, during the visit of the Goam Lee Ungno Birthplace Museum:

LEE Ungno's 'appasan'

The artist's home

Inaugurated in 2011, the museum itself blends in the landscape, and its earthen faces provide a unique natural air con system; even the outer walls exposed to a hot summer sun felt surprisingly cool.

twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/636767305016279040

If, by contrast, it feels a bit austere inside, that's on purpose: the architect, JOH Sung-yong, kept in mind the artist's deprivation of freedom. Indeed, I could at the same time better focus on the collections, and better appreciate the landscape from well thought out openings.

Exposure time (with the architect, on Facebook)

Both cursed and gifted in many ways, Lee ventured into both figurative and abstract territories, using a great diversity of media with a sincere and sensitive authority. Of course, the biggest collection of his works is in the Daejeon museum. I'm jotting down below both addresses, plus the references for "이응노의 집, 이야기", a great book about the story of this special place in Hongseong:

• Goam Lee Ungno Birthplace Museum: 386-1 Junggye-ri, Hongbuk-myeon, Hongseong-gun, Chungcheongnam-do. Tel: (041) 630.9232
• Ungno Lee Museum of Art (architect: Laurent Beaudouin): 157, Dunsan-daero, Seo-gu, Daejeon. Tel: (042) 611.9821

"이응노의 집, 이야기" (이응노/수류산방중심/2012): Suryusanbang's book is available on Interpark.

*

PS: if Hongseong has become the capital of Chungcheongnam-do, it remains a small provincial city with its traditional market (and great hanoo restaurants), and even an old style smithy.

To start with, the short trip from Seoul put us in the right mood; a laid back, time capsule of a train (Saemaeul) dropped us in a welcoming Chungnam landscape:

My last journey in a Saemaeul train was 23 years ago. This stewardess wasn't probably even born yet.

'Once upon a time in the West': Hongseong Station. No bad guys in dusters to wait for us (I forgot my Bronson harmonica anyway).

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K-Pope mania hits Seoul, Jongno-style

So Pope Francis landed in South Korea, welcomed by the traditional gun salute from the North...

Stalin asked 'The Pope! How many divisions has he got?" North Korea's suggested answer: Pope Francis is worth 5 rockets
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/499808764644429825

... and in the advertised set of wheels - only in a darker color than expected:

(July 28) In Seoul, Pope Francis' Soul will be white. And branded Kia.
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/493663654928474113
(August 14) Pope Francis' Soul is greyer than scheduled
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/499735563646169090

The Pope's program comprises at least 10 stations, from the Blue House today to Myeongdong Cathedral on August 18, with an Assumption mass in Daejeon World Cup Stadium tomorrow, and a mass for the beatification of Korea's 124 martyrs on Gwanghwamun Square the 16th, which requires extra security around Sejongno:

(@pearswick: Korean police to build huge wall inside Seoul for Pope visit - only those registered can enter)
Meet Seoul's inner fortress wall: the one erected downtown for Pope Francis' visit
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/495858701853396992

But everything seems ready for the big day:

Gwanghwamun more than ever a cross-road - Seoul's ready for Pope Francis' visit
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/499567502276300800

Even I am not taking any chances:

Do something, quick! I don't want to be stuck to 666 followers when Pope Francis visits
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/499432267295375361
(PS: thanks to the kind tweeters who lifted me away from that Number of the Beast - even if I won't be saved that easily)

The Pope will also visit several sites in Chungcheongnam-do: Solmoe Shrine in Dangjin, Haemi castle and shrine in Seosan. A stop at the martyr shrine in Seosomun Park is also planned. BTW here's the winning project in a recent competition for this historic site:

Speaking of Seosomun and Catholicism: just off Gwanghwamun, the Seoul Museum of History proposes an exhibition until October 31 on Seoul's East and West small gates (Seosomun and Dongsomun), and the - to say the least - not always festive history of Korean catholicism:

Kim Dae-geon, Korea's first Catholic priest. Among Saenamteo martyrs to be blessed by Pope Francis
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/499376326625595393

More tweets about Pope Francis


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From urban mirages to urban decay

The KRIHS (Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements - 국토연구원 - krihs.re.kr) delivered last week a grim portrait of Korean rust belts: of the 144 industrialized zones it surveyed, 23 would show early signs of urban decay, and 44 would be seriously emptying themselves. Some counties have never recovered from the collapse of the textile industry, but I'm more interested in the stories of urban centers.

Over the past few days, the Korean press buzzed about the findings, and I'm not surprised to see the Korean JoongAng Daily focus today* on the example of Incheon's Nam-gu, and the failures of short sighted urban development. I precisely took downtown Incheon as the textbook case of downtown sacrificed by Korea's suicidal urban planning in a recent focus ("Wet eyes for wetlands and urban mirages"), from which I reproduce here the 'About New Towns and the laws of gravitation' part:

"New cities must always be conceived with a long term vision that encompasses the past as well as the future. And one of the great tragedies in Korean urbanism is the fact that developpers prefer to build from scratch a new city instead of improving existing ones, even if it means the eventual failure of both. I understand the short term economics, but that's simply not sustainable.

That's true for both "Urban New Towns" and "Greenfield New Towns". The first expression may sound like a tautology, but that's how I define New Towns replacing partly or totally an already urbanized area. I often lament about how, in Seoul, New Towns tend to obliterate all reference to the past. There's a quantum leap between improving a city and negating it, and that's exactly what happened when whole neighborhoods vanished, replaced by over-sanitized and over-standardized blocks of tombstone "apateu". If the spirit of Seoul villages could somewhat survive in certain complexes, the city may face new challenges as the generation that ignited the baby boom passes away.

Moving on to "Greenfield New Towns", now. If you want to evaluate their impacts, don't just consider their direct environment. Take Incheon, for instance: even if you remain within Incheon territory, Songdo is only part of a gigantic scheme that involves other greenfield projects (eg Cheongna), and partial redevelopments of existing neighborhoods. But at the heart of the city, many places have regressed over the past decade, surviving in some kind of limbo. In other countries they would have been priorities for improvement, but they don't stand a chance when money talks first in urban planning. What may seem good for business in the short term may prove to be socially, politically, and economically counter-productive in the medium to long term.

In countless places across the country, some cities are already schizophrenic entities with brand new districts totally disconnected from former city centers stuck in the wrong side of the eighties, and if authorities don't invest now to fix the balance, the mess will only get worse (note that the winners of today may not be the winners of tomorrow considering the end of the universal "apateu" model, the relatively low cost of land downtown...).

If you can try to pass the buck to the next administration, you simply can't escape demographics."

In the US, downtown Pittsburgh somehow manages to bounce back after lost decades, but only after land value dived to the point whole parts could be redrawn with a sounder environmental approach. Downtown Incheon remains far from that stage, and will need to find its own model for revival.

The KRIHS found similar patterns in most cities, but I note a clear difference between Seoul and all others. If you take Incheon, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, or Daejeon, cities are hit in their historic centers, generally in their "Jung-Buk-Nam-Dong-Seo-gu" (Center, N-S-E-W districts). In Seoul, it's more in the periphery, with Eunpyeong-gu, Nowon-gu, and Gwanak-gu in the 'early decaying' stage, and Gangbuk-gu and Jungnang-gu in the 'hollowing out' stage.

Of course, it's not that simple. The survey is based on demographic trends and proportions of old buildings which could also become opportunities, and situations may differ spectacularly at the micro level. Eunpyeong-gu, for instance, exposes spectacular disparities between its new town areas, the Tongil-ro axis, and more withdrawn neighborhoods. Some projects are already under way: Gangbuk might bet a needed boost from the future Ui-Sincheol LRT (Light Rail Transit) line, Nowon from the renovations around its center (see "Nowon confirmed as Seoul's northeast hub"), and Seoul can play on more levers than other cities... but the lack of strategic vision remains embarrassing.

Even with their significant cultural assets, it's hard to tell how Gwanak or Jungnang are defining themselves, let alone where they're heading for. Excluded from major projects, they are more considered as transitional spaces than well defined urban entities, and the only literature I can find about them recycles the usual cliches. Both have the opportunity to build themselves a more balanced future than their neighbors, but for that to happen, they need to solve their own identity crisis, and to stand for something.

And of course, Seoul has the mission to make sure no one is left behind, that each and every one belongs, and at the same time to respect and nurture the originality and diversity that make metropolises sustainable. It's like a soccer team: it's not just about star power, and you can tell the strongest ones by their weakest points.


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* "Old downtowns in Korea’s cities are hollowing out" (20121112 Korea JoongAng Daily)

FC Seoul Expats Day

A perfect weather, a friendly atmosphere, a lively game with five goals... total success for this second edition of the FC Seoul's Expats Day !

Thousands of expats were invited by the club, Seoul Global Center, and 10 Magazine for an afternoon of animation and a K-League clash between FC Seoul and Daejeon Citizens at the Seoul World Cup Stadium (a very special place for me : I attended its inaugural game, the 2002 FIFA World Cup opener - a stunning but well deserved victory of Senegal over France -, or the last confrontation between ROK and PRK) :

Gathering all communities for a festive moment, there's no better way of promoting the club, the league, and the game. The club hosted the event wonderfully, from the organizers backstage to the fans in the tribunes to the players on the field.

Beyond Seoul's own trio of Expats Dejan Damjanovic (three goals for the Montenegrin), Adilson (impressive coverage by the Brazilian), and Mauricio Molina (even in a mediocre day, the Columbian managed to score the final goal), the whole team delivered a very convincing game, leveraging on a strong defense, a swift midfield, and diversified attacks. Daejeon players too felt in a giving mood, offering a few gifts, starting only a few minutes after the kick off with an assist to Damjanovic for his first goal. Park Sung-ho could have played a bit faster to bring more danger, but the Citizens never gave up. Even a little tension at the end of the game didn't spoil the mood : the referee promptly exposed a few cards matching his yellow jersey, and after all, the game itself was not supposed to be friendly.

4-1. This glorious day brings FC Seoul closer to the play-offs (preferably with a ticket for next AFC Champions League - and another K-League title ?), and to a more than ever international audience.

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KTX coast to coast Incheon-Gangneung

It was part of the Pyeongchang 2018 bid but now that's official: the KTX Incheon airport line will be prolonged all the way to Gangneung by 2015, connecting key entry points (ICN, Seoul) to the future olympic venues and the East Sea. A major milestone for a national network in permanent development for conventional as well as high speed lines.

Historically, Korean railways followed the Seoul-Busan axis: the Gyeongbu Line and Jungang Line are basically Nortwest-Southeast parallels, the former starting from Seoul Station and the latter from Cheongnyangni (two multimodal hubs about to be more closely connected in the future).

The KTX dramatically shrunk distances, and now Daejeon competes with Daegu as the main hub between the capital and Busan because it lies at the intersection of the KTX Gyeongbu Line (Seoul-Busan 2h10)and the Honam Line (Seoul-Mokpo 1h46). Initially planned for 2014, Seoul-Gangneung is expected to take 1h39, largely within the goal set by railway authorities for all intra-korean lines (two hours maximum).

The Incheon Airport KTX line (not to be confused with the AREX - "AREX on time for Seoul - Gimpo - Incheon" - even if it shares the infrastructure) reaches Wonju West station in Gangwon-do, with 5 stops in between:
- Susaek (Gyeongui Line, close to the DMC and Subway Line 6) in Susaek-dong, Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul
- Yongsan (other KTX lines, Jungang Line, and Subway Line 1) in Hangangno 3-ga, Yongsan-gu, Seoul
- Cheongnyangni (Jungang Line, Gyeongwon Line) in Jeonnong-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul
- Mangu (Gyeongchun Line, Jungang Line, Subway Line 1) in Sangbong-dong, Jungnang-gu, Seoul
- Yongmun (Jungang Line) in Yangpyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do

The old Wonju Station being also on Jungang Line, this is basically an AREX-Jungang combo.

The Wonju-Gangneung extension will connect the two cities that gave their name to the Gangwon-do province when it was founded in 1395 (GANGneung + WONju = GANGWON). Wonju remained the capital for centuries but now Chuncheon rules: it claims 1.4 mn souls compared to 310,000 for Wonju and 230,000 for Gangneung.

Only two stops are scheduled between WON and GANG: Pyeongchang and Daegwallyeong, both in Pyeongchang-gun. Daegwallyeong is famous for the Daegwallyeong Sheep Farm, but two major olympic venues are located in this myeon: Alpensia and Yongpyong resorts.

When I think that driving to Yongpyong took us 6 hours back in 1992, if we were smart enough to leave Seoul before 6 AM to avoid the traffic on the old road... infrastructures have so much improved over the past two decades!

Well. Not all infrastructures proved successful. This new KTX line looks like another nail in Yangyang International Airport's coffin: that's by far the closest one to Pyeongchang as the crow flies, and it's quite ok (yours truly used it back in 2002), but it's a commercial flop and totally desert except for the occasional charter flight.

Even on steroids, a crow cannot beat a KTX.

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Monet to Warhol (Saint Etienne @ Daejeon)

After the Musee d'Orsay in Seoul, the Musee d'Art Moderne de Saint Etienne in Daejeon : this summer, French museums are joining the increasing flock of foreign visitors to Korea (2.8 M over the first 4 months of 2011, or +3% vs the same period last year).

Ask any French citizen about Saint Etienne and you'll hear about 'Les Verts', the soccer team that ruled over French soccer decades ago, and almost made it to the top of Europe (losing the Champions' Cup final to Bayern Munchen back in '76). But 'Sainté' is also a UNESCO Creative City and City of Design, and this museum holds the second modern art collection in France after Centre Beaubourg / Georges Pompidou. I haven't visited it yet so that's another good reason to pass by Daejeon this summer.

Saint Etienne Museum of Modern Art sent 114 works by 82 artists ranging from Monet to Warhol and including Roy Lichtenstein, Picasso, Miro, Fernand Léger, Jean Dubuffet, Yves Klein, or Monumenta 2010 artist Christian Boltanski. Almost simultaneously (20110524-0703), the Daejeon Metropolitan Museum of Arts (DMMA) is also staging a Daejeon - Saint Etienne Exposition mixing artists from both cities (Saint Etienne's roster : Yves Bresson, Jean-Marc Cerino, Elzevir, Franck Lestard, Jerome Loisy, and Sylvia Marquet).



Monet to Warhol - Masterpieces from the Saint Etienne Museum of Modern Art
De Monet à Warhol - Collections du Musée d'Art Moderne de Saint-Etienne
Daejeon Museum of Art (396 Mannyeon-dong, Seo-gu, Daejeon, ROK - dmma.metro.daejeon.kr)
May 25 - August 28, 2011
monettowarhol.com / 모네에서워홀까지.com
Tel : +82.42.477.3223 - Ticketlink 1588-7890


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Sejong City

Chung Un-chan's confirmation hearings revive Sejong City controversies : Korea's next Prime Minister has been vocal against one of the late Roh Moo-hyun's most ambitious projects.

Sejong City ? The Brasilia of Korea : a new city built from scratch to accomodate the central government in a more central location (in Yeongi and Gongju, Chungcheongnam-do, on the Geumgang river). Korea is a little bit smaller than Brazil, but Seoul concentrates too much power in the country, and Roh wanted to change the ways of local politics. Will this project meet the same tragic end ?

Announced in 2002 during the presidential campaign and officialized by a March 18, 2005 law, the MAC (Multifunctional Administrative City) was named after Korea's most beloved king, the great Sejong.

Sejong Special Autonomous City (세종 특별자치시 - Sejong Teukbyeol Jachisi) broke ground on July 20, 2007 and plans the first massive transfers of administrations in 2012. When construction is completed, in 2030, Sejong area (3,579 km²) shall host 4 million people, the core of the project (72.9 km²) claiming half a million souls.

The MACCA (Multifunctional Administrative City Construction Agency)* was inaugurated on January 1st, 2006, with the daunting task of delivering the goods. "Multifunctional" means a selfsustaining metropolis, complete with "central administration", "local administration", "culture and international exchange",
"university and research" (a MOU was recently clinched with KAIST), "medical and welfare", and "cutting edge industry".

Sejong will learn from that other utopia, Songdo new city, focusing on environment and quality of life, with the usual IT touch. Each individual will enjoy an average 50 square meters of urban park, more than 5 times the national average : green space will cover 53% of the city (21% for residential, 14% for public facilities, 6% for education and culture). Thanks to a ring-shaped public transportation network, everyone will reach any part of the city from anywhere in the city within 20 minutes.

Sejong is not Brasilia, in the total middle of nowhere : Cheongju International Airport is not far away, nor is Daejeon. Remember Daejeon Expo 1992 ? Then, the idea was to grow a new hub at the center of Korea. And Daejeon is now a major center, connected with Seoul, Busan and Gwangju by KTX and highways... Sejong would compete with Daejeon but if carefully planned synergies could work, the Tokyo-Yokohama or Seoul-Incheon way. Korea would then have a third megalopole to balance Seoul and Busan...

Now the $45 bn question : will it fly ?

Chung points out the economic cost : beyond the tens of billions of dollars invested in the project, operating expenditures for the central administration are likely to explode, with permanent shuttles between Sejong and Seoul, and probably two houses for big fishes.

I'm more worried about the political and social consequences of Sejong City :

- At the beginning, the political genetic pool shall gain in diversity but in the medium to long term, the risk of sedimentation looks too great. The proportion of politicians and lobbyists will be too high, and I see at best a DC-style microcosm and at worst a Bruxelles-style lobbyist heaven (very likely if only part of the administration moves**). Not the best way to fight corruption. International appeal ? Visitors shall be motivated by politics... unless the cultural proposition exceeds that of, say, a city like Seoul.

- Seoul is close to North Korea, granted. But chances are relationships will change by 2030, and building the equivalent of a new capital city further away may sound like a costly distraction twenty years from now.

- Koreans feel betrayed by politicians and a remote government, and Sejong City is supposed to put the agora back to the center of the country. It may work, but the opposite effect is more than likely : an even more remote government in an even more artificial bubble...

The Songdo concept has its weaknesses but more consistence. The challenge looks much greater here, where the vision appears to be essentially political and top down...

But of course, Korea "can do". And might even, once again, deliver.

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* MACCA (MAC) : happycity.go.kr
** that could take a big chunk from Jongno-gu and Yeouido : ministries, assemblies, supreme court, presidency... the Washington, D.C. way. If only the bureaucracy moves, the balance of power collapses in favor of lobbyists.

ADDENDUM 20091128

"Sejong City and the beauty of lameduckhood"

7 zones

LEE Myung-bak's government is facing big hurdles these days but at least something seems relevant : grouping provinces and big cities around 7 economic zones, and accelerating bullet train projects at the national level. I hope this won't alter the "cluster" approach but boost each region.

The 5 major zones will be :

- Central metro : Seoul + Incheon + Gyeonggi-do - major : finance & hi tech
- South East : Busan + Ulsan + Gyeongsangnam-do - major : heavy industries
- Daegu / Gyeongbuk : Daegu + Gyeongsangbuk-do - major : electronics, textile, energy
- Chungcheong : Daejeon + Chungcheongnam-do + Chungcheongbuk-do - major : science, R&D, education
- Gwangju / Jeolla : Gwangju + Jeollabuk-do + Jeollanam-do - major : tourism

Two provinces remain on their own :

- North East : Gangwon-do - major : tourism and medical
- Jeju : Jeju-do - major : tourism

Not a dramatic change for Jeju but some hope for Gangwon, now a segment of one potentially more advertized overseas. Splitting Gyeongsang is an even smarter move. Jeolla remains untouched and focused on tourism, but a "Sun Belt" Economic Zone is also planned from Mokpo to Busan along the South Coast in order to rival Seoul and accelerate the demographic and economic development of Mokpo area. Top chaebols will be invited to open vice-national HQs in the new zone. Preferably not in the Busan area, already a major hub by itself.

If new administrative levels could limit the intranational competition between self proclaimed Asian hubs, they are not necessarily good news - poorly handled they would even destroy value everywhere. I also suspect some potential cannibalization / coopetition with Korea's existing cluster strategy.