[Exclusive] 74 Out of 79 Knowledge Industry Centers Approved Despite Soaring Vacancy Rates... Control Tower Urgently Needed

Only Four Applications Rejected in Over Two Years and Eight Months
Government-Local Meetings Largely Ineffective
Yoon Han-hong of the People Power Party: "Government Must Manage Supply and Vacancies"

Over the past two years and eight months, 74 out of 79 applications for the establishment of knowledge industry centers nationwide have been approved. Despite a worsening vacancy crisis caused by oversupply, approvals have continued. Since the authority to approve and manage the establishment of these centers is dispersed, there are calls for the government to establish a centralized control system.

According to data obtained by Yoon Han-hong, a member of the National Assembly's Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs, and Startups Committee, from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on September 21, 2026, a total of 79 applications for the establishment of knowledge industry centers were submitted via FactoryOn from 2024 to the end of August this year, with 74 receiving approval. Only one application is under review and four were rejected.

According to an exclusive report by The Asia Business Daily on August 26, out of 153 newly constructed knowledge industry centers nationwide over the last three years, the vacancy rate reached 43.5%. Nevertheless, over the same period, more than nine out of ten applications were approved. The authority to approve the establishment of a knowledge industry center lies with the mayor, county head, or district head (chief executive of the local government) where the application was submitted.

Of course, it is not the case that the government has completely ignored the oversupply problem. In January 2024, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held meetings with local governments, the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, and Korea Industrial Complex Corporation to discuss measures to prevent oversupply and speculative demand. At the time, the ministry stated, "Regular consultations will be held with local governments."

However, progress has been slow over the past two years and eight months. The regular meetings that were promised have not been held consistently. Meetings with local governments took place only once each in February and April of 2024, but not at all the following year. It was not until June of this year that the government convened an "Expert Meeting on Vacancy Measures for Knowledge Industry Centers." When lawmakers asked about the number and reasons for supplementary requests or rejections during new application submissions, the ministry responded, "The authority over this matter lies with the local governments, so we do not have the relevant data."

This is because there is no control tower within the government. While the policy is set at the national level, approval for establishment rests with local governments, and separate administrative systems are in charge of construction and completion, causing the government's overall supply management function to fail. Only recently has the government issued measures such as a guideline for the approval of knowledge industry center establishments.

Assemblyman Yoon said, "Even though vacancies are approaching half, over 90% of new applications have been approved, showing that the government's supply management function has not been operating properly." He added, "The fragmented management system must be restructured so that the government acts as a control tower to systematically manage everything from the supply of knowledge industry centers to vacancy issues."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.