• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.349-368
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• 2020

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between the characteristics of Korean petroleum and petrochemical industries and the change of participation in global value chains. Since 1960s, Korean petroleum and petrochemical industries have been developed under government's industrial policies. In 1980s Korean petroleum and petrochemical industries served as a key export-oriented industry) of Korea's national economic development. Based on the expansion of large-scale production facilities led by the private sectors from the end of 1980s, Korea became as a major country in the global petroleum and petrochemical industries. Under Korean domestic scale, it shows considerable spatial concentration, in Ulsan Metropolitan City, Yeosu City and Seosan City. However, the degree of spatial concentration is differentiated along the each sectors within the petroleum and petrochemical industry. To improve regional industry competitiveness, each region has adopted different strategies and shifted to structural upgrading and producting high value-added products. Changes in the structure within petroleum and the petrochemical industries at the national level caused a change in the structure of Korea's participation in GVC, but the domestic value-added is lower than that of its major competitors.