Pocheon, a city in Gyeonggi Province, is accelerating its transformation into a future growth city by leveraging three pillars: advanced defense industry, an education development special zone, and a peace economic special zone to overcome the limitations of its border-region status.
A significant portion of the city's total area has been restricted as a military facility protection zone, constraining growth for decades. Starting this year, Pocheon plans to fully implement a strategy converting security assets accumulated over some 70 years into industrial drivers.
According to the Pocheon city government on Monday, the Gyeonggi Defense Venture Center, which the city spent two years preparing, officially opened in February. The center aims to serve as a one-stop defense industry platform encompassing advanced weapons systems research and development, as well as industry-academia-research collaboration.
Hanwha Systems has established and is operating a maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) center in Pocheon, while LIG Nex1 plans to complete construction of its own MRO center within this year. The successive investments by Korea's leading defense companies demonstrate that Pocheon is establishing itself as a key hub for the defense industry.
The Seungjin Scientific Training Center, Asia's largest military training ground, will host the "2026 Korea Drone Combat Competition." Six government ministries including the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT), and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) will jointly participate. The event is expected to cement Pocheon's status as a city specializing in advanced defense through drone-bot combat and large-scale drone demonstrations.
◇ Per-Student Education Spending of 1.32 Million Won — No. 1 in Gyeonggi Province
Pocheon recorded per-student education spending of 1.32 million won for 2026, ranking first among Gyeonggi Province's 31 cities and counties. The figure is more than double the provincial average of 600,000 won.
Since being selected as a pilot area for the Education Development Special Zone in 2024, the city has secured large-scale funding including 6.8 billion won in central government subsidies. Over two years, digital creation studios were installed at 10 locations within the city. This year, an additional 1 billion won will be invested to expand the studios to regional hubs.
A self-directed learning center operated in partnership with EBS, Korea's public educational broadcasting service, is provided entirely free of charge. Following the operation of five centers last year, a new center will open in the Soheul area this year to complete a district-based learning network.
To improve commuting conditions for students, the city is launching "Pochun Bus," a dedicated student commuter bus route, and expanding "Pouri," a district shuttle service, to five zones. "Edu Taxi," a service for students in transportation-underserved areas, will also operate alongside.
