Park Hyung-jun and Park Min-sik Engage in Heated Debate Over 1.2 Trillion Won Yozma Investment MOU

Park Min-sik, Persistently Probing Investment Realization vs Park Hyung-jun, Extraordinary Measures to Revive Busan's New Industries

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] In the People Power Party's Busan mayoral debate, preliminary candidates Park Min-sik and Park Hyung-jun engaged in a lengthy dispute over the Yozma Group's investment memorandum of understanding (MOU). Park Min-sik emphasized the risks related to the investment by pointing out Yozma Group's investment performance in Korea, while Park Hyung-jun responded that measures to revitalize new industries are necessary for Busan's economic activation and urged not to belittle efforts toward this goal.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 22nd, during the People Power Party's Busan mayoral debate held at Busan MBC, candidate Park Min-sik raised suspicions regarding the Yozma Group investment MOU disclosed by candidate Park Hyung-jun. Park Min-sik pointed out that "the MOU has no legal binding force," "investment performance in Korea is poor," and "other local governments also signed MOUs but saw no results."

Earlier, candidate Park Hyung-jun introduced that he had signed an agreement with the global venture capital Yozma Group to create a global fund worth 1.2 trillion won.

In the debate, Park Hyung-jun said, "Yozma Group is the world's largest startup fund," adding, "The reason Korean startups are struggling is that technology commercialization is not happening, and Yozma Group will be a drastic measure for technology commercialization." He stated, "Starting with a fund of 200 billion won within two years, a total of 1.2 trillion won will be invested." Park Hyung-jun emphasized, "Busan's startups are moving to Seoul, and Busan talent is also going to Seoul," explaining, "This is because it is difficult to survive one or two years after starting a business, and for this, a system that can support financial aid and growth is necessary."

In response, Park Min-sik said, "The domestic venture industry is not lacking money for investment; rather, it is because they cannot find promising places," adding, "While money is important, nurturing talent in Busan is crucial." He cautioned, "We need to be careful as incidents like Lime and Optimus occurred," and said, "Busan citizens are worried that Yozma Korea might only take photos of the MOU without actual investment."

To this, Park Hyung-jun replied, "Comparing the Yozma fund to Lime makes further discussion meaningless," and requested, "Before belittling the opponent's pledges, please present concrete alternatives."

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