‘Train ferry to boost southern coast development’
Business leader urges government to build KTX routes between Mokpo, Busan
Tons of tasks are piling up for Kim Ho-nam, the chairman of the Mokpo Chamber of Commerce and Industry, due to his involvement in businesses across multiple industries.
Along with the chairmanship, Kim heads a construction company, an educational institute, a welfare foundation and a cultural organization.
Putting other tasks aside, however, Kim is now heavily focusing on bringing train ferries to the southern port city of Mokpo, South Jeolla Province. He strongly believes this would revive the sluggish regional economy and bring about a logistics revolution.
A train ferry is a ship equipped to carry railroad cars. One level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front or rear to give access to wharves.
“I have been working hard to introduce train ferries from Mokpo to China as part of an effort to invigorate the economy on the southern coast of Korea,” Kim said in a recent interview with The Korea Times.
“If train ferries are introduced, they could be connected to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s One Belt, One Road initiative. This will help improve trade volume and eventually get the nation’s struggling free economic zones, located at ports, back on track.”
The Chinese policy is designed to build trade routes between China and countries in Central Asia, Europe and the Indo-Pacific through major infrastructure and transportation plans.
To this end, Kim said a high-speed train system f rom Korea Train Express (KTX) should be set up between Mokpo and Busan.
“The distance between the two cities is 361 kilometers. If they are connected through KTX station areas such as Yeosu, South Jeolla Province can be a tourist spot, where Chinese and Japanese travelers can come and go,” he said.
Kim also said there are rail tracks along with an ongoing project to build more, which would reduce costs.
“We have a railway in South Jeolla Province, which opened in 2004. In addition, we successfully have new railroad construction around Mokpo, which will be established by 2020,” he said. “We hope the ongoing project will sow the seeds of connecting Mokpo to Busan,” he added.
Essay-writing builder, donor
Kim’s first term as the chairman of the Mokpo Chamber of Commerce and Industry began in May 2012 and he was unanimously re-elected in February 2015 to serve until 2018.
But what makes Kim’s career more impressive is that he is an essayist, who has published five books so far. This is unusual in the construction industry invoking images of CEOs with a barrel chest and broad shoulders.
His latest book came in 2015, co-authored by Kim Ji-ha, a poet and democracy activist during the military dictatorships.
“Both construction and essay-writing require creativity, so I started writing books,” Kim said.
Profits f rom selling his five books all went to a welfare foundation that he runs with the help of 430,000 volunteers.
In April, he joined the Honor Society after pledging to donate 100 million won within five years to the nonprofit fund-raising Community Chest of Korea.
He became the 55th member to join the donors club in South Jeolla Province. Nationwide, 1,535 people have donated more than 100 million won ($89,100) as of April.
“The membership of the Honor Society club will serve as momen- tum for me to do more volunteer activities in the region,” Kim said.
“The reason I decided to join the donors club is I can choose where to spend my donations. Twenty million won will be spent to renovate houses of low-income families.”
He added: “Donations and volunteer work will pave the way for Korea to become an advanced welfare state and I hope the donation culture will spread across the country.”
If train ferries are introduced, they could be connected to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s One Belt, One Road initiative. This will help improve trade volume and eventually get the nation’s struggling free economic zones, located at ports, back on track.