INCHEON, South Korea—The official opening of the tallest building in South Korea, the Northeast Asia Trade Tower (NEATT), took place Thursday.

The landmark 305-meter (1,001-foot), 68-story tapering skyscraper built at a cost of KRW 620 billion (US $614 million) is located in Songdo International Business District, the 1,500-acre, 100-million square foot new city being developed by Manhattan-headquartered Gale International and POSCO E&C of Korea.

The Northeast Asia Trade Tower, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, is the symbol of Songdo IBD, an international business hub in a free-trade zone that has attracted worldwide attention for its leadership in sustainability and smart-city initiatives.

The Northeast Asia Trade Tower is comprised of 2 million square feet of GFA. The stunning skyscraper includes a three-story underground parking garage, pedestrian access to the subway, and its 65th floor will feature an Observation Deck boasting panoramic views of the Yellow Sea. The Northeast Asia Trade Tower is situated at the foot of Songdo IBD's 100-acre Central Park and immediately adjacent to the Convensia Convention Center, the first LEED-certified convention center in Asia. The NEATT also is expected to obtain LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, adding to the already more than 13.7-million square feet of LEED-certified building in Songdo, considered one of the world's most ambitious LEED developments.

One of Korea's largest companies, Daewoo International, which owns the Northeast Asia Trade Tower, will relocate its offices and 1,500 employees to the Tower from Seoul this October. Floors 34-64 of NEATT will be occupied by the 423-suite hotel Oakwood Premier Incheon, Songdo's first luxury residence hotel, opening July 23. The Oakwood is the official hotel of the 2014 Asian Games, the largest sporting event in Asia, to be held September 19 - October 6, 2014. Songdo IBD also will host the 2015 Presidents Cup at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea, marking the prestigious tournament's first foray in Asia.

“The Northeast Asia Trade Tower is a beautiful and visible symbol of the realization of the progress of Songdo IBD and our unique partnership with POSCO E&C, Incheon City and the Republic of Korea,” said Stan Gale, chairman of Gale International, the master plan developer of Songdo IBD. Gale added that Songdo has been a magnet for technology and service firms – Cisco has made Songdo one of its Internet of Things (“IoT”) Global Centers of Excellence headquarter locations and the city itself is the exemplar of Cisco's Smart+Connected Cities concept. In addition Songdo IBD is home to more than a dozen international nongovernmental organizations such as the U.N. Green Climate Fund, which selected Songdo IBD as the home for its secretariat amidst intense international competition, and the World Bank Korea, selected over Seoul. The Songdo Global University Campus has attracted world-class universities such as George Mason University, the University of Utah, the State University of New York and Belgium's Ghent University.

“NEATT symbolizes the impressive growth of Songdo IBD within the Incheon Free Economic Zone, which is emerging at the forefront of the global service industry,” said Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority commissioner Lee Jong-cheol.