Seoul, Nov. 29 (AP): Developers of a Universal Studios theme park and resort in South Korea have said they have agreed on a site for the 2.9-trillion won ($3.1 billion) project just south of Seoul.

USK Property Holdings Company, South Korea’s Gyeonggi province and other partners said plans are for the park to be completed by the spring of 2012 and that 58,000 new jobs would be created.

Gyeonggi governor Kim Moon-su said the project “will give momentum for the nation... to increase inbound tourist receipts from China and Southeast Asia” and will bring “enormous cultural and economic effects”.

The site in the city of Hwaseong in Gyeonggi is located about 30km south of Seoul and also close to its main international airport in Incheon, officials said.

The facility is also to include a convention centre, hotels, golf courses and an outlet mall, they said.

USK Property president Frank P. Stanek said the project would be the biggest investment ever made on a Universal Studios theme park at the time of opening and would be the largest in physical size internationally for Universal.

Universal Parks & Resorts, a division of General Electric Company’s NBC Universal, operates parks in Orlando, Florida, and Hollywood, california, in the US, as well as in Osaka, Japan. It is also developing Universal Studios parks in Singapore and Dubai.

Current Universal theme parks include attractions based on Universal films, including E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and King Kong, as well as movies made by other studios such as Spiderman and Shrek.