Big South Korean manufactures would be relieved to see removal of regulatory stumbling blocks for their investments for smart and robotics and other innovative applications as the new government speeds up regulatory lifting.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Wednesday identified 53 investment projects worth a combined 337 trillion won ($263.2 billion) in stalemate due to regulation or lack of support and attention and began remedial work.

It has received corporate requests for regulatory amendment in 26 projects worth 239 trillion won, fast-track licensing process on 14 projects worth 71 trillion won, state support and incentives for 25 projects worth 288 trillion won.

As part of regulatory reforms and system improvements, the ministry is planning to discuss altering the usage purpose of related sites, changing the development plan of industrial complexes and revising the enforcement ordinances.

An unnamed company earlier asked the ministry to improve the maximum floor area ratio for general industrial site from current 350 percent for its 10 trillion won worth output ramp-up in the IT sector.

For broader application of autonomous robots in industrial sites, safety regulations for movable robots will be newly established. Self-driving robots will likely be monitored remotely without field operators as well.

Wireless carrier KT Corp. is planning to build a manufacturing facility for self-driving robots, but cannot test them on roads due to strict traffic law. The regulatory removal could help the company save extra cost such as for hiring licensed administrators.

The trade industry also will relax the criteria for support and incentives for reshoring, foreign investment and companies in the free economic zones.

Each of the 53 projects will be monitored by assigned ministry officials.

“The government is addressing the problems to boost corporate investment. Project managers will closely monitor and manage their projects to avoid any problems from regulations, poor systems and delay in approvals, while exploring additional projects to support,” said Joo Young-jun, head of the office of industrial policy at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

By Baek Sang-kyung, Park Dong-hwan and Lee Ha-yeon

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