If the Defense Ministry moves to Sejong, its research agency should move to Nonsan or Gyeryong

South Chungcheong Province said on the 27th that it will seek to attract the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA), which researches military policy, to the Nonsan-Gyeryong area, taking advantage of the Defense Ministry's planned relocation to Sejong City.

KIDA is a government-funded research institute in Seoul responsible for defense policy research, with 487 employees as of early this year. It has maintained its presence in the capital region on the grounds that it needed to be close to the Defense Ministry, but its relocation became inevitable after the government included the ministry among the central administrative agencies moving to Sejong City.

The province explained that if KIDA relocates to Nonsan or Gyeryong, it would create a "complete defense ecosystem" encompassing policy research, education, policy demand, and testing and production.