Strategically located at the mouth of the Hyeongsan River opening into Yeongil Bay, Pohang serves as South Korea's "steel capital" and is one of the nation's most crucial heavy industry and seaport hubs. Once an isolated fishing village, the city made a spectacular breakthrough starting in the late 1960s with the founding of the steel giant POSCO, transforming the locality into one of the largest integrated metallurgical centers in the world. Pohang's economy is underpinned by an exceptionally robust engineering and scientific-technological framework. Alongside flagship heavy industries such as advanced steel production, basic materials, and machinery manufacturing, Pohang boasts a major commercial port that acts as a bustling maritime logistics gateway for the nation. In the digital era, Pohang is rapidly emerging as a global knowledge hub, driven by an outstanding innovation ecosystem leading in biotechnology research, next-generation battery energy, artificial intelligence (AI), and international-standard smart urban governance solutions.
Representatives from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (USSH, VNU-HCM) and the Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) sign a Memorandum of Understanding. - Photo: USSH
Over the years, cooperation between Ho Chi Minh City and Pohang City has achieved many substantive results, focusing on two main pillars: urban management and high-quality education. In infrastructure and governance, both sides have actively shared experiences in smart city construction, traffic management, and digital planning. In education and technology, a outstanding highlight is the annual POSTECH Summer Program—a technology research and exchange initiative between the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (under Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City) and the Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), a premier tech academy headquartered in the city.
Looking toward the future, particularly within the framework of the 3rd Ho Chi Minh City Friendship Dialogue in 2026 (FD 2026), the City is widening its corridors to attract direct investment and foster strategic alliances with partners from Pohang in five key sectors:
1. New Materials and Manufacturing Industries: Attracting engineering enterprises and major conglomerates from Pohang to invest in manufacturing plants and transfer technologies for high-tech steel production and precision mechanical components in key industrial parks.
2. Smart Urban Infrastructure: Collaborating to share and apply digital technology solutions in urban management, smart traffic operations, and the construction of adaptive e-government architectures.
3. Green Energy and Circular Industries: Partnering in the transfer of biotechnology, low-emission production solutions, recycling technologies, and the development of sustainable clean energy supply chains.
4. Scientific Cooperation and Core Human Resource Training: Expanding the scale of exchange programs for research fellows and specialized engineers in core technologies, semiconductors, and AI through academic alliance axes such as POSTECH and Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology.
5. People-to-People Exchanges and Maritime Logistics Connectivity: Enhancing the expansion of shipping corridors, connecting bilateral seaport trade, and periodically promoting unique ecological and cultural tourism.