Yoon pledges first drastic easing of greenbelt regulations in two decades

President Yoon Suk Yeol promised on Wednesday drastic reforms to ease regulations on so-called "greenbelt" zones for the first time in two decades.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, center, visits a vendor at Sinjeong Market, a traditional market in Ulsan, after holding the 13th public livelihood debate in the port city earlier that day. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

President Yoon Suk Yeol promised on Wednesday drastic reforms to ease regulations on so-called "greenbelt" zones for the first time in two decades.

"The standardized clearance criteria, which have been a decisive obstacle to lifting the greenbelt zone, will be completely overhauled for the first time in 20 years," he said during a town hall meeting in Ulsan, an industrial powerhouse.

This will mark the first major change since such limited development zones were completely lifted in seven small- and medium-sized cities from 2001 to 2003.

He stressed that cities like UIsan, known as an industrial cluster for the petrochemical, shipbuilding and automobile industries, and other greenbelt areas under high restrictions, will be able to see changes to make economic bounds.

"Ulsan's leap forward as a national industrial hub is the shortcut to leading the Republic of Korea to leap forward," Yoon stressed. "Above all, we will mobilize all policy tools to upgrade the international competitiveness of Ulsan's traditional main industries — shipbuilding, automobiles and petrochemicals — to the next level."

Yoon presided over the 13th public livelihood debate at the Ulsan Exhibition and Convention Center, bringing together some 100 people and officials from the Land Ministry, Agriculture Ministry and the Office for Government Policy Coordination.

Greenbelts were first adopted in 1971 to restrict development in areas to prevent indiscriminate rapid urban expansion for environmental preservation. Once a greenbelt has been designated, gaining approval for development projects in the zone becomes difficult.

"It's most important to provide a location where new industries can develop," Yoon said. "We must go one step further and expand economic value creation by efficiently combining labor and capital technology through innovation in development restrictions and agricultural land use regulations."

Regarding greenbelt zones, Yoon noted they have "played an important role in bringing about orderly and efficient development" but noted that as the country's industries and cities have grown rapidly, the situation has changed a lot from 50 years ago, when such zoning discussions initially began.

Yoon said this was in line with his campaign pledge to the people of Ulsan to ease the greenbelt restrictions in the port city and toward achieving balanced regional development.

However, he also promised to make sure to "guarantee autonomy for local governments so that they are not limited by the total amount released by region."

He added that the scope of regional strategic projects will not be determined uniformly but will be applied flexibly to suit the nature of each region through deliberations at Cabinet meetings.

Yoon further emphasized the need to overhaul regulations on farmland use, noting that smart farms and vertical farming are fields with high added value through applying agriculture technology.

There are some 336 farmland use regulations imposed by 12 ministries and local governments, he said, promising to conduct a survey to scrap "outdated regulations that do not keep up with changing times."

In his closing remarks, Yoon ordered officials from related ministries to make such reforms happen "unconditionally," calling for them to "take action immediately as most of the issues discussed do not require revision of laws."

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]