Gyeonggi effort to host Universal park pays off

[이욱정]

Gyeonggi effort to host Universal park pays off

November 27, 2007

Korea will have a Universal Studios theme park three times as big as the original one in the United States, according to sources in Gyeonggi Province, the would-be site of the resort.
The provincial government said in a press release yesterday that it will sign a memorandum of understanding today with Universal Parks and Resorts to set up the theme park by 2012.
The size of the park, to be built in Hwaseong, a Gyeonggi city about 70 kilometers southwest of Seoul, will be about 5 million square meters, compared to 1.7 million square meters in Orlando, Florida according to the release.
Universal currently operates three theme parks, in Orlando, Hollywood, California, and Osaka, Japan.
The Gyeonggi government said it expects the theme park in Hwaseong to create about 60,000 new jobs.
The park, according to the release, will generate about 2.9 trillion won ($3.2 billion) over the next five years, 5.5 trillion won worth of production and annual tax revenue of 190 billion won.
The provincial government noted that building the park will be coordinated with its plan to build the “Songsan Green-city,” a new eco-friendly urban center, on a 56 square kilometers plot near Sihwa Lake in Hwaseong.
The construction of Songsan Green-city will begin in 2009. Its first phase is slated for completion in 2013, the government said.
In May, Universal Studios revealed plans to open a theme park in Korea by 2012 as part of its efforts to tap into Korea’s growing theme park industry.
In an effort to bring the park to Gyeonggi, Governor Kim Moon-soo visited the United States last month.
He met with Frank Starnek, president of USK Property Holdings, which has the exclusive right to operate the park in Korea, and Peter Wong, vice president of Universal Parks and Resorts.
Wong and Kim will be among the attendees at the MOU signing ceremony in Seoul, the government said.


By Moon Gwang-lip Staff Reporter [joe@joongang.co.kr]