President Moon Jae-in on Jan. 11 gives a congratulatory speech at the groundbreaking ceremony for LG Battery Core Material, a project conducted under the Gumi-style model of job creation, at Gumi Convention Center in Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province.

By Min Yea-Ji and Lee Jihae
Photos = Cheong Wa Dae's official Facebook

President Moon Jae-in on Jan. 11 attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the plant of LG Battery Core Material, which is being built under the so-called Gumi-style model of job creation, at Gumi Convention Center in Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province.

He pledged to create "Gumi-style jobs" as an opportunity to strengthen the battery industry's ecosystem.

The president said the government over three years will invest KRW 475.4 billion in Gumi High-tech Valley, a national industrial complex, to install the nation's largest plant for battery cathode materials. Mass production will begin in 2024 and output capacity by 2026 will reach 60,000 tons, or 40% of the national total, he added, thus boosting the national competitiveness of the battery industry.

He said the cathode materials to be produced at the facility is sufficient to manufacture 500,000 electric vehicles, and will significantly lessen foreign dependency on such materials.

Such materials are important as they account for 40% of the manufacturing cost of a car battery. The factory's projected output of 60,000 tons of cathode materials for secondary batteries will be the largest in the country.

President Moon said that while Korea leads the global battery industry with the best technology, its competitiveness in the sector's basic ecosystem including in materials and components is relatively weak. To secure a clear competitive advantage in the battery supply network, he added, Korea must raise its independence in core materials and components.

The Gyeongsangbuk-do region will emerge as the hub of the battery industry's ecosystem through the Gumi-style model, he said, and Korea will lead the world's battery supply network.

The Gumi-style model of job creation is one of the Moon administration's 100 policy tasks, with the groundbreaking ceremony coming 2 1/2 years since LG Chem and the region's management, labor and private sector and government concluded an agreement on "win-win" or mutual growth. 

Construction of the plant will be completed in September 2024, and is expected to directly employ 187 people. With direct and indirect hiring of about 1,000 forecast, the facility is projected to have a job-creating effect of an estimated 8,200.

President Moon Jae-in (middle) attends on Jan. 11 the groundbreaking ceremony of the plant of LG Battery Core Material at Gumi Convention Center in Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, speaking to LG Chem Vice Chairman Shin Hak-cheol (second from right).