Invest KOREA

According to Yonhap News,

(SEOUL=Yonhap News) The Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ), South Korea's first free economic zone, aims to attract investment centering on large scale projects in Songdo and Cheongna International City in the second half of this year.

Korea's department store franchise Shinsegae plans to open a multi-stored shopping mall with a department store, a supermarket, entertainment centers, and cultural facilities in 2019 on a site of 59,600㎡ in Songdo International City, according to the IFEZ Authority.

Songdo was designated as the nation's first free economic zone in August 2003 along with Cheongna and the island of Yeongjong.

The city boasts the nation's best infrastructure as it has been developed to attract foreign capital and international companies vying with Asia's global economic zones like Singapore, Hong Kong and Pudong in Shanghai.

Construction of Hana Financial Group's integrated data center, the first leg of a project to build the Hana Financial Town in Cheongna International City, commenced last year and to be completed by year-end.

The center is built to integrate IT infrastructure of Hana Financial Group and plans to begin operation next year.

The Hana Financial Town will be sited on the land of 247,000㎡ in Cheongna International City. A human resource development center, the group's headquarters, a financial research institute, and a call center will be built successively in the second phase following the construction of the data center.

The IFEZ expects regional financial industry and the local economy will get a boost as Hana Financial Group gradually moves to Cheongna.

Accumulated foreign direct investment registered for the IFEZ stood at USD 331 million in July, accounting for 33 percent of the annual target of USD 930 million.

"Backed by a series of large scale projects lined up in the second half such as Songdo Shinsegae Shopping mall and Cheongna Hana Financial Town, this year's investment is set to surpass our target," an IFEZ official said.

smj@yna.co.kr

Copyrights Yonhap News. All Rights Reserved.

Source Text

Source: Yonhap News (Aug. 22, 2016)
** This article is translated from the Korean.