Rep. Choo Mi-ae, six-term lawmaker and ruling Democratic Party of Korea's candidate for governor of Gyeonggi Province, said Wednesday it was vital to complete semiconductor chip clusters in the province.
"Successful completion of the chip cluster in Gyeonggi Province and nurturing industries related to dual-use technology applicable for civil and military use are key to achieving balanced national economic growth," she said in a press conference at the National Assembly Wednesday.
The conference was her first public appearance after she was confirmed as the party's candidate to head the province in the local elections on June 3.
Her remarks came amid calls to relocate the mega chip cluster site from Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, to North Jeolla Province. South Korea's chip giant SK hynix has been building a plant in Gyeonggi Province since last year, and works on Samsung Electronics' facilities are set to begin this year.
Choo told reporters that securing electricity, water and human resources were all key to sustaining the mega chip plant project in Gyeonggi Province, adding she would work with the central government to secure water for industrial use and provide a legal framework, invoking her revision to the River Act drafted a week before to set up an industrial infrastructure.
Choo also vowed to address living standards of people in Gyeonggi Province, the most populous province in South Korea with some 14 million residents, by setting up a dedicated committee within the party, increasing welfare payments and laying out relevant policy promises.
In the primaries that concluded Tuesday, Choo was chosen over Rep. Han Jun-ho and incumbent Gov. Kim Dong-yeon, with over 50 percent of votes in the three-day voting session.
Choo was eligible for a 10 percent bonus in the vote, which combined a ballot of dues-paying party members with public opinion polls, because she was a woman. But she told reporters that she had won the majority of votes before the bonus was factored in.
Choo, who was formerly justice minister and chair of the Democratic Party, entered politics in 1995 and won her first general election in 1996. Before entering politics, she was a court judge.
With Choo running for the June local election, Choo is to quit her job as a lawmaker, who currently represents Hanam A constituency of Hanam, Gyeonggi Province, which is a suburb of Seoul.
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