Mohegan Sun has filed its bid for a casino license in South Korea, the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority’s chief executive confirmed Friday from the East Asian nation.

Bobby Soper, in a phone interview, said he flew Wednesday from Connecticut to South Korea, where responses to the government’s request for casino proposals were due Friday. MTGA officials had announced in the spring that they were talking to the Incheon International Airport Corp. about developing a $1.6 billion entertainment complex next to the airport, which serves more than 45 million visitors a year.

The authority's plans call for an eventual investment of $5 billion as the project unfolds over 20 years.

Soper said the South Korean government is expected to award from one to three casino licenses next year, including up to two in the Incheon area. He said he did not know how many proposals had been submitted, though a field of 17 previously had been narrowed to nine, include six involving Incheon.

Soper confirmed reports that Mohegan Sun is teaming up with KCC Corp., a South Korean company specializing in chemicals and building supplies, which has acquired a 24.5 percent stake in the project.

“They’re a perfect complement,” Soper said. “Not only do they have experience in development and contracts in Korea, but they’re also aligned with our core values of community and relationships, transparency and integrity.”

He said the latest plans for the project, dubbed “Inspire Integrated Resort,” call for three hotels with a total of 1,350 rooms, an indoor-outdoor theme park, an entertainment venue that would be among the largest in Asia, 200,000 square feet of luxury retail space, 120,000 square feet of convention and meeting space, a “wide array of restaurants and nightlife” and a "world class" casino that, in accordance with South Korean law, would cater only to foreigners.

In terms of square footage, 97 percent of the project would be devoted to nongaming amenities.

Soper said the project would provide the Mohegan authority with “a great opportunity to showcase the entertainment-driven nature of the Mohegan Sun brand on an international platform.”

He said Mohegan officials still have to give a presentation on the project to the South Korean government and expect to learn how their application fared in January or February. If it wins a license, the Mohegan authority and its partners could complete the project’s first phase and open in early 2020, he said.

“This opportunity makes sense for us,” Soper said. “The demographics and the market are extraordinary. Our values are in line with what the South Korean government wants to accomplish in terms of tourism.”

He said the Incheon airport is building a new terminal and that it expects to eventually accommodate up to 60 million passengers a year.

“It’s a huge opportunity to leverage those volumes,” Soper said.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com

Twitter: @bjhallenbeck

Editor's note: This article has been edited to correct the number of passengers that the new Incheon airport terminal will be able to accommodate.