Gallup: 57% See Mega Projects Helping Regional Balance, 26% Fear Wider Gap

A Gallup Korea survey found that positive assessments (57%) that the 'Big 3 Mega Projects'—large-scale investment plans for cutting-edge industries like semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI)—will contribute to balanced regional development were more than double the concerns (26%) that they would actually widen regional disparities. In terms of regional response distribution, opinions were split in the Daegu and North Gyeongsang regions, where 'helping regional balance' (39%) and 'widening the gap' (37%) were nearly equal, while the rest of the regions generally showed higher expectations for balanced development.

This survey was conducted via telephone interviews with 1,002 adults aged 18 and older nationwide from July 7 to 9, 2026, with a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

Regarding the specific promotion of the projects, the Blue House announced on July 6, 2026, that it had decided to create a semiconductor industrial complex within the site of the military airport in Gwangju, Jeonnam, as part of efforts to establish a semiconductor cluster in the Honam region.