"Asia and Africa today"
- is a scientificl monthly journal (in Russian)
of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Included in Russian Science Citation Index on
WoS platform, and EBSCO Publishing.
ISSN 0321-5075. Published since July 1957.

"Asia and Africa today" № 10 2020

Title

THE GANGWON-DO CASE AS AN EXAMPLE OF THE REGIONAL POLICY OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA

DOI

10.31857/S032150750011111-4

Аuthor Marina P. KUKLA
PhD (Economics), Associated Professor, Department of Korean Studies, Far Eastern Federal University ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

Leonid E. KOZLOV
PhD (Political Science), Associated Professor, Department of International Relations, Far Eastern Federal University ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )
Abstract:    In the Republic of Korea, equal spatial development is considered as one of the state priorities. The traditional object of Seoul’s regional policy is Gangwon Province, a typical depressed region that specialized in coal mining during the rapid industrial growth of the RoK and suffered from changes in the energy balance and macroeconomic conditions at the turn of the 80s and 90s. In this article, we analyze the key problems of the socio-economic development of the province, the approaches and instruments for resolving these problems and their effectiveness. The recovery policy for Gangwon-do has been implemented over the past two decades. The central, regional and municipal authorities, as well as the local community, putting forward a variety of initiatives and demands, are engaged in an intensive dialogue on the development of Gangwon-do. At first sight, a radical improvement did not happen. However, the decline in population has been stopped and even a slight growth began. Structural reorganization of the regional economy was implemented, and in preparation for the 2018 Olympic Games, most transport problems were solved, the infrastructure of sports and outdoor activities reached a high level, and real estate prices rose significantly. Gangwon-do’s lagging behind the average level of the South Korean regions has ceased, which is a decent result of the regional policy, taking into account the existing geographical and macroeconomic restrictions. However, we assume that the COVID-19 epidemic will cause severe damage to the service sector of the provincial economy, so in the future the authorities will pay more attention to the development of industry and agriculture.
Keywords: regional policy, territorial development, Republic of Korea, Gangwon-do
Pages 46-51