고려대학교

초록/요약

This paper compares Beijing with Seoul in urban economic development as both cities have the goal of building a world city. For the analysis, a system consisting indicators to assess urban economic development level is established from three aspects, namely, domestic, foreign and connective. The latest data of respective city from official sources are collected in this paper. From the analysis, it is found out that Beijing lags behind Seoul in domestic economic development although it has a much higher growth rate these days. In terms of integration into the foreign economic activities, Beijing has done a good job in attracting foreign investment and promoting export. However, the size of FDI is still smaller than that of Seoul although Beijing’s FDI cases outnumber that of Seoul. In playing the role of center for coordinating regional and world wide economic activities, Beijing and Seoul have made their own achievements. Beijing has attracted more MNCs to set up R&D centers and hosted a greater number of international meetings. While Seoul attracted more foreign visitors annually and its international airport performed better than Beijing’s airport as a passenger and logistics air hub. Followed by the comparative study, some suggestions of future economic development are given to Beijing.