Park Hyung-jun "Making Busan an International City with Urban Loop... Building 'Youth Housing' on History"

Park Hyung-jun, preliminary candidate for Busan mayor from the People Power Party. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Park Hyung-jun, the People Power Party's preliminary candidate for mayor of Busan, revealed plans to develop Busan into an international city by installing a futuristic high-speed train called the ‘Urban-Loof’ from Gadeokdo to Haeundae in Busan, and fostering Busan-style ‘unicorn companies.’ He also plans to build youth housing spaces above subway stations and promote remodeling of old villas and apartments to address housing issues for young and middle-aged residents.

In an interview with Asia Economy on the 15th, Candidate Park said, "(The Urban-Loof) has already completed technical experiments, and only issues such as how to install it and safety inspections remain."

The Urban-Loof is a Busan-type model of the ‘Hyper Loof’ being promoted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Candidate Park announced his plan to complete it by 2030. The Hyper Loof, a high-speed vacuum train, is a ‘dream train’ that can cover the Seoul-Busan distance in 20 minutes, but some say it is too early to predict its commercialization timeline. Candidate Park also engaged in a debate over this with Kim Young-choon, the Democratic Party preliminary candidate.

He said, "To make Busan an international city, instead of following what others do, we must say ‘we will break through first even if there are difficulties.’ (Candidate Kim) is repeating past methods instead of thinking creatively," criticizing him.

Candidate Park also revealed plans to transform Busan into a startup city by partnering with the global venture capital firm Yozma Fund to create a 1.2 trillion won startup fund. He said, "Yozma Fund is the one that listed most Israeli companies on the US Nasdaq," and "Our ultimate goal is to create Busan-style unicorn companies with Yozma and promote their listing on the US Nasdaq." He emphasized that the privately-led Yozma Fund is more effective in nurturing entrepreneurs than government-led funds.

Regarding real estate, his policy prioritizes housing supply that meets the demand of Busan’s young and middle-aged population over solutions through taxes and regulations. He said, "We will build youth housing above subway stations and create a ‘Compact City,’ a startup space combining housing, workplaces, leisure, and culture," and "We will also activate remodeling of old apartments and villas in Busan’s original downtown by relaxing floor area ratios."

Having played a role in conservative unification as the chairman of the Innovation Integration Promotion Committee, he also commented on recent controversies surrounding the opposition’s unified candidate for Seoul mayor, saying, "No one opposes the principle of a unified opposition candidate," and "It is right for Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, to join the People Power Party in some form and participate in the primary."

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