Economic Power of Seoul 24 Times Larger Than That of Jeju

The economic disparity between the metropolitan area and non-metropolitan areas has been reported as widening due to stronger economic power being concentrated in the metropolitan area. The disparity still exists, but the gap has not widened much since 2000.

Ulsan of the richest per income capita, shows 3.3 times of income differential larger than that of Daegu.

The Bank of Korea released on Monday a report about the regional economic trend and major characteristics based on the gross regional domestic product (GRDP), which showed in 2002, Seoul accounted for 21.9 percent of the economy, followed by Gyeonggi Province (21.1 percent), South Gyeongsang Province (6.8 percent), North Gyeongsang Province (6.6 percent), Busan (6.1 percent), Incheon (4.9 percent) and Ulsan (4.9 percent).

Jeju ranked last with 0.9 percent, following by Gangwon province (2.5 percent), Daejeon (2.4 percent) and Gwangju (2.3 percent).

The economic power of Seoul and Gyeonggi Province was 23 times wealthier than that of Jeju, last on the list.

The metropolitan area (Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province) accounted for 47.9 percent of the total output, up 5.9 percent compared to that in 1980 (42.0 percent). For the last three years, the figure has stayed near 47 percent, with 47.5 percent in 2000 and 47.1 percent in 2001.

The nationwide average of per capita income (per capita GRDP) was recorded at 12.25 million won, and Ulsan was the richest city in Korea with a figure of 26.87 million won, followed by South Choongchong Province (14.74 million won), North Gyeongsang Province (13.96 million won), North Choongchong Province (13.42 million won), South Jeonla Province (13.34 million won), South Gyeongsang Province (13.02 million won), Gyeonggi Province (12.82 million won) and Seoul (12.75 million won), all of which are over the average.

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The per capita income of Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and South Gyeongsang Province ranked in middle despite their large economies, as their populations were relatively larger compared with their output.

Daegu was the poorest city with a per capita income of 8.01 million won, while Gwangju recorded 9.33 million won, following by Incheon (10.97 million won), Jeju (10.13 million won), Daejeon (9.8 million won), North Jeonla Province (9.70 million won), Gangwon province (9.62 million won), Busan (9.58 million) and Gwangju (9.33 million won), all of which recorded below average.

The per capita income of the last three regions that accounted for 70.0 percent of that of the top three regions in 1985 dropped to 61.8 percent in 2002, indicating that regional disparity has continued to expand gradually.

Kang-Woon Lee kwoon90@donga.com