Samsung Electronics’ plan to set up a semiconductor cluster in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, is facing government pressure to relocate the project to the country’s southern region, triggering industry concerns that the 360 trillion won ($251.2 billion) project could be swayed by political considerations ahead of local elections in June. According to industry officials and Yongin City, Samsung Electronics and Korea Land & Housing Corp. (LH) signed contracts on Dec. 19 for the chipmaker to purchase land in an area designated as a national semiconductor industrial complex in the city. LH, which is in charge of developing the area, has since begun compensating land and property owners in the zone. The city emphasized that this shows Samsung Electronics and LH remain committed to carrying out the industrial complex project as scheduled. It also issued a press release saying that Yongin Mayor Lee Sang-il met with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Koo Yun-cheol on Sunday to urge the central government to support the project “as planned.” Samsung announced the semic