Industrial site rules in Seoul to be relaxed.

(From The Korea Herald)

By Kim Jung-min The government is considering easing regulations barring companies from building factories in the Seoul metropolitan area, the Ministry of Construction and Transportation said yesterday. Under a two-stage plan proposed by the ministry and a presidential advisory body, Korea's conglomerates and multinational companies will have an easier time building new facilities in the capital area encompassing Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi province, construction officials said. "We intend to ease regulations step by step while maintaining our existing policy," Construction Minister Kang Dong-suk said yesterday during a news conference at the Gwacheon government complex on the outskirts of Seoul. He said the major change to regulations is intended to attract investment from high-tech businesses to the metropolitan area. The ministry is also considering relocating most 268 government offices located in the metropolitan area to other 12 cities. The announcement came one day after the ruling Uri Party proposed cutting taxes and increasing government spending in a desperate effort to stimulate a long-awaited economic recovery. Many analysts see the move as an attempt to diffuse widespread discontent among residents in the Seoul metropolitan area with President Roh Moo-hyun's controversial plan to relocate the administrative capital. Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak warned that the capital relocation ...