Industrial land planning and development in South Korea - Current problemsand future directions

The recent South Korean economic crisis cannot be attributed to any single sphere of public policy or blamed simply on domestic processes. Indeed, rec ent global market fluctuations reveal that Korea's difficulties are merely a piece of a larger jigsaw. That: said, the regulatory environment establis hed by the central government has accentuated these difficulties. In partic ular, restrictions governing land development and certain aspects of bankin g have impeded free investment and undermined profitability. This paper is concerned with the way the regulation of industrial land use has contribute d to the crisis and with the scope for minimising further economic decline through a programme of rationalisation and deregulation. A review of curren t land development policy, focusing on industrial parks, and the existing l egislative framework is presented. Finally, we review the measures that the Korean government is currently considering and assess how they may allevia te the economic pressure resulting from the recent crisis.