Park Hyung-jun Declares Candidacy for Busan Mayor... "I Will Support Regime Change"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hye-min] Former National Assembly Secretary-General Park Hyung-jun officially announced his candidacy for the by-election in April next year on the 15th.

On the morning of the same day, Park held a declaration ceremony at the Busan North Port International Exhibition and Convention Center and said, "I stand here to boldly lead the change of my hometown Busan, where I was born and have experienced the joys and sorrows of life for the past 30 years," adding, "I will become a mayor who contributes to Busan’s new leap forward and a mayor who supports regime change."

He criticized the Moon Jae-in administration, saying, "The leadership of this administration is neither an innovative leadership pioneering the nation's future nor a democratic leadership leading the integration of the national community," and added, "It rather shrinks and damages liberalism, democracy, and republicanism."

Park emphasized that "there is no future for South Korea unless the regime is changed and leadership is replaced," and stressed that he would be "a candidate who not only wins the Busan mayoral election but also helps the Seoul mayoral election and gives hope for regime change."

He pledged that the obstacle to Busan’s development is a lack of innovation capacity and promised to ▲ build innovation infrastructure ▲ revive the roots of innovation ▲ and cultivate the waves of innovation throughout the lives of Busan citizens.

As innovation infrastructure, he announced plans to develop Gadukdo Airport, the new port, North Port, Eco Delta City, and the 2nd Centum. Park said, "These places must be built as innovation infrastructure that will sustain Busan for a hundred years," emphasizing Gadukdo Airport in particular, stating, "It should not only be a passenger gateway airport for Busan but also a logistics hub airport for the entire southern region and a hub airport for Northeast Asia."

He also promised to create an organic virtuous cycle structure among universities, industries, and talents. Park said, "I will make Busan the most exemplary industry-academia cooperation city nationwide within five years," adding, "We will collaborate with all universities in Busan targeting seven major fields?artificial intelligence, marine new industries, cultural contents, tourism MICE, blockchain, EduTech, and medical healthcare?to create industry-academia cooperation spaces throughout Busan."

He also proposed the '15-minute city' pledge. Park said, "Within a 15-minute walk, there will be workplace neighborhood childcare facilities, adequate medical facilities, cultural facilities, and sports facilities," emphasizing, "We will build a deep underground transportation network and express urban rail to cover all parts of Busan within 15 minutes by public transportation."

For youth and newlyweds’ housing, he announced support of up to 200 million KRW interest-free for five years and pledged to remodel and supply 100,000 old apartment units. Additionally, he promised ▲ establishment of a one-stop comprehensive support organization for domestic violence ▲ strengthening jobs for the disabled ▲ expansion of emergency care support centers. He also stated, "We will build Busan Agora to publicize policy issues and allow citizens to directly participate in decision-making on conflict matters."

He also emphasized the integration of the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam (Bu-Ul-Gyeong) region. Park said, "As soon as I become mayor, I will immediately start discussions on integration with the Gyeongnam governor, who has already advocated for a mega-city," adding, "Even before administrative integration, we will establish a practical legal organization for economic integration and promote a wide-area economic zone."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.