Never mind the remote geography or even a global recession: Korean planners are dreaming very big dreams for the island of Jeju.
Through most of Korean history, Jeju was the back of beyond -- a 72km oval island off the southwestern tip of the Korean peninsula that chafed under mainland rule and was often used as a place of banishment.
More recently, the island and its main city of 530,000 people, also called Jeju, have been a favorite getaway for honeymooners and harried heads of state and industry.
Now the government says it will spend US$3.6 billion over nine years to transform Jeju into another kind of refuge, a wide-open "free international city" that it hopes will surpass Hong Kong or Singapore.
Ultimately, said Yonhap, the semiofficial Korean news agency, the island will be "an eco-friendly visa-free international city tempting tourists with sightseeing and recreation and businesspeople with lucrative high-tech, logistics and finance opportunities by 2010."
Just how the island is to preserve its main asset, its rural charm, through such intensive development was not addressed. Opponents of President Kim Dae-jung were expected to raise the issue in the National Assembly.
Neither has the government made clear to Jeju residents why it is suddenly bent on reinventing their island into a new frontier of large-scale commercialism.
But criticism may be muted by a proposal to allow every South Korean to buy US$1,200 worth of goods a year duty free on Jeju.
Sports-minded Koreans may also be persuaded to support the project by the prospect of cheap golf. The plan calls for new courses with annual fees of less than US$50 -- which is unimaginably low in this corner of Asia -- to be built in the only place in the country warm enough year round for palm trees and orange groves.
As if all of that were not enough, the Jeju committee has also announced tax breaks of a kind that mainland Koreans tirelessly demand but rarely receive.
Anyone, foreign or Korean, who cares to invest US$10 million in an enterprise on Jeju will be exempt from all taxes for the first three years and pay half the usual rates for two more. And imports will be completely free of tariffs.
Then, in a country that tends to greet foreigners in moods ranging from garrulous cordiality to austere coldness but rarely with trust, expatriates on Jeju will be free to establish their own schools and enroll foreign and local students alike.
Judging by the planning committee's descriptions, the authorities have in mind an intellectual and commercial Elysium set in bucolic splendor under the conical slopes of Mount Halla, the 1950m volcano that is South Korea's highest peak. Foreign universities will be encouraged to offer programs on Jeju of a caliber to attract students from around the world, the plan said.
In most of South Korea, every child studies English in school, but few gain fluency without considerable advanced training. But in Jeju, the committee promises, English will be treated almost as a second official language, and all government documents will be published in English and Korean.
The decision to go ahead was announced on Monday by the prime minister, Lee Han-dong, and the provincial governor, Woo Keun-min. No groundbreaking date was mentioned.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS