President Lee Jae Myung ordered the government Tuesday to develop housing, education, health care and cultural amenities alongside South Korea’s flagship semiconductor and artificial intelligence (AI) projects, shifting attention toward whether skilled workers and their families can be persuaded to settle permanently in regional industrial hubs. At the third public-private review of the government’s mega-project program, Lee cited previous innovation cities where inadequate living conditions discouraged family relocation and said industrial complexes and surrounding communities should be planned together from the outset.

The government’s three mega-projectscover semiconductors, physical AI and AI data centers. Lee said the southern semiconductor belt