The Lee Jae-myung administration is overhauling Korea's regulatory reform system for the first time in 28 years in a bid to restore the nation's diminished growth potential. Unlike the approximately 2,800 special zones currently scattered across the country, the government plans to designate four mega special zones covering robotics, renewable energy, biotechnology, and autonomous driving to create hubs for advanced industry development in regional areas, with cross-ministerial one-stop support spanning finance, taxation, infrastructure, and talent.
The core of the initiative is the introduction of "menu-style regulatory exemptions," allowing businesses and local governments to directly select and apply needed regulatory exemptions, establishing a demand-driven regulatory framework.
President Lee Jae-myung emphasized at the first plenary meeting of the Regulatory Rationalization Committee held at Cheong Wa Dae on the 15th, "To strengthen international competitiveness and industrial capabilities, we must boldly eliminate unnecessary or inefficient regulations." He added, "Regulations must align with global standards," noting that "advanced technology and industrial sectors, in particular, must shift to negative regulation." Negative regulation is a system that permits all activities except those explicitly prohibited, contrasting with the existing positive regulation approach.
The government plans to prepare approximately 200 regulatory exemptions in a "menu" format in advance, including permit relaxations and authority transfers, enabling businesses and local governments to utilize them immediately when needed. Additionally, the government will introduce "demand-responsive regulatory deferrals" that relax regulations based on demand and establish an "upgraded regulatory sandbox" featuring shortened review periods and flexible demonstration periods.
The mega special zones will be implemented in conjunction with the current administration's regional balanced development strategy known as "5 Poles, 3 Special Areas." President Lee added, "Balanced regional development is not charity or consideration but an essential survival strategy for the nation's sustainable growth," stating that "large-scale regional regulatory special zones must be created."
Going forward, the government plans to enact the "Mega Special Zone Special Act" within the year through consultations with the National Assembly and accelerate the designation of mega special zones accordingly.
Robots Operating in Parks, Unmanned Fire Trucks on Roads... Creating Advanced Industry Testing Grounds
The government is pursuing the "Four Mega Special Zones" to achieve both "balanced regional growth" and "strategic industry development" under the 5 Poles, 3 Special Areas framework. Currently, approximately 3,000 small-scale special zones are scattered across the country, but limited regulatory exemptions and state-led design constraints have clearly hindered the development of core regional industries. The government's plan is to select metropolitan and super-metropolitan regions, allow businesses and local governments to choose needed regulatory exemptions from a menu, and bundle fiscal and tax support to overcome previous limitations.
The government particularly aims to focus on four core growth industries—robotics, renewable energy, biotechnology, and autonomous driving—for efficient regional industry development. In metropolitan-level robot mega special zones, the use of original robot data and mobile robots' commercial activities in parks will be fully permitted, while bio mega special zones will receive comprehensive authority and support including a 1 trillion won "mega fund."
The Presidential Regulatory Rationalization Committee held its first meeting chaired by President Lee Jae-myung at Cheong Wa Dae on the 14th and announced the "Mega Special Zone Implementation Plan" linked to the 5 Poles, 3 Special Areas regional balanced development strategy. According to the plan, regions designated as mega special zones in the four sectors—robotics, renewable energy, biotechnology, and autonomous driving—will receive concentrated support from all central government ministries, including menu-style regulatory exemptions, demand-responsive regulatory deferrals, upgraded regulatory sandboxes, and package policy support.
The government emphasized that it will create the highest level of regulatory environment for businesses to achieve results by applying "three major regulatory exemptions" to mega special zones. Through "menu-style regulatory exemptions," the government will prepare various regulatory relaxation items in advance for businesses and regions to select according to their needs, while "demand-responsive regulatory deferrals" will quickly provide regulatory exemptions reflecting on-site demands.
The government announced it will also provide an integrated support package covering seven areas—finance, funding, taxation, talent, infrastructure, technology startups, and systems—to mega special zones to strengthen investment incentives. Son Dong-kyun, Director of Regulatory Coordination at the Office for Government Policy Coordination, explained at a briefing at the Government Complex Seoul the previous day, "We will establish a 'Growth Engine Special Subsidy' and, for administratively integrated regions, contribute to promoting large-scale corporate investment by linking it with 5 trillion won in incentives. The National Growth Fund will also invest more than 40% in regional areas, and we will expand capital supply through various means including regional growth funds."
Achieving Both Balanced Growth and Strategic Industry Development
Regulatory Exemptions for Robot Outdoor Advertising, Direct Energy Trading
Accordingly, in the "Robot Mega Special Zone" led by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, various uses of original robot data, road access for unmanned firefighting robots, and outdoor advertising and commercial activities in parks for outdoor mobile robots are expected to be broadly permitted through "menu-style regulatory exemptions." If businesses need additional regulatory relaxations beyond pre-established exemptions, demand-responsive regulatory deferrals will apply. For example, if there is corporate demand for disinfection business activities using quarantine robots, the government will review and quickly defer related regulations. Policy support packages including data factory construction, preferential designation of specialized complexes, the National Growth Fund, and startup development through expanded public procurement will also be applied.
In bio mega special zones, a 1 trillion won "mega fund" will be established, accompanied by various policy support packages including expanded regional medical research and development centered on national university hospitals and local governments. Through menu-style regulatory exemptions, advanced regenerative medicine review procedures will be relaxed and treatment requirements expanded. Exemptions for distributed clinical trials and pre-approval use of wellness and beauty medical devices are also expected to apply. Health and Welfare Minister Chung Eun-kyung explained, "Currently, clinical trial data must be submitted for approval, but in mega special zones, we will grant conditional approval for low-risk medical devices for priority use and recognize real-world data as clinical trial data for approval."
1 Trillion Won Bio Mega Fund, GPU Support for Autonomous Vehicles
Mega Special Zone Special Act to Be Enacted This Year... Application Procedures in Second Half
The same regulatory exemptions and policy support will apply to mega special zones in other sectors. In AI autonomous driving mega special zones, provincial and metropolitan governors will be granted authority to issue temporary autonomous vehicle operation permits, significantly reducing the burden on companies applying for permits. The government is pursuing policy support measures including providing vehicle maintenance and charging facilities, depots, and resident/research spaces; training specialized personnel for the autonomous driving industry; and supporting large-scale driving data and GPUs needed for autonomous driving AI learning.
In renewable energy mega special zones, direct trading of renewable energy will be fully permitted, and liberalization of private renewable energy trading is also expected. Additionally, policy support will include extended grid fee support periods for direct renewable energy trading, support for energy storage systems (ESS), microgrids, and dynamic control system construction, and new technology R&D and testbed establishment. The government plans to communicate with the National Assembly to enact the tentatively named "Mega Special Zone Special Act" within the year and quickly designate mega special zones for the four sectors.
Meanwhile, the government has also decided to pursue overall regulatory structural reform following this meeting. For core industry regulations, the government will align with global standards, requiring the government itself to explain and prove whether regulations are truly necessary, and will pursue a "negative regulation" transition that permits activities in principle while managing only necessary aspects afterward. The government also decided to introduce "post-regulatory impact assessments" to continuously review the appropriateness of existing regulations reflecting changes in social and economic conditions.
President Lee: "We Really Need a Regulatory Reform Czar"... Minister Kim: "I'll Become the Robot Czar"
President Responds to 'Mega Special Zone Czar' Proposal: "That's Our Style"
At the first meeting of the Regulatory Rationalization Committee, reorganized for the first time in 28 years, President Lee Jae-myung and Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jung-kwan drew attention by exchanging mentions of "Czar." A czar refers to an absolute monarch in Russia or Slavic regions, and in this context indicates a powerful coordinator for swift policy decisions—reflecting shared recognition of the need for a control tower for rapid policy implementation.
