Busan Mayor Kim Kyung-soo Visits City Hall: "Will Form a Joint Task Force for the Metropolitan Special Union"

On the 16th, First Meeting with Mayor Park Hyung-jun in Busan... Megacity Lecture at the Future Innovation Committee

Governor Kim Kyung-soo visited Busan City Hall on the morning of the 16th and had his first meeting with Mayor Park Hyung-joon.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Saeyan] Kim Kyung-soo, Governor of Gyeongnam Province, and Park Hyung-joon, Mayor of Busan, have joined hands for the first time to promote the Southeast Mega City in response to the Seoul metropolitan area.

On the 16th, Governor Kim visited Busan City Hall and gave a special lecture at the Busan Future Innovation Committee, which serves as Mayor Park's transition committee.

In his lecture, Governor Kim emphasized that "Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam originally shared one root," and argued that "as two major pillars capable of competing with the Seoul metropolitan area, they must now become one again."

He added, "With Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon grouped as the metropolitan area, it is difficult for other regions to compete fairly," and stated, "To overcome this, we must promote mega cities not only in the Southeast but also by region."

Mayor Park said, "In fact, the integration of Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam is a truly important task I have dreamed of since my academic days," expressing his intention to "do his best to make Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam another pillar of South Korea's development."

Before the press conference, during a casual conversation, the two dismissed concerns about difficulties in cooperation due to differences in their political parties.

In response to such a question from a reporter, Governor Kim drew a clear line by saying, "Politics is politics, and administration is administration." He continued, "It is inappropriate to use the livelihoods and quality of life of city and provincial residents as tools for political strife."

Mayor Park also said, "I believe today's lecture will alleviate such concerns," and added, "There are many joint issues now, and since we plan to establish a special autonomous entity early next year, I think we can accelerate this, and I have instructed city officials accordingly."

After the press conference, Governor Kim gave a lecture titled "Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam Mega City for Win-Win Development between the Seoul Metropolitan Area and Non-Metropolitan Areas" to members of the Busan Future Innovation Committee and Busan city officials.

Regarding the concentration in the metropolitan area, he said, "Beyond the limitations of existing balanced development policies, a super-regional mega city centered on living and economic zones is necessary," and presented strategies for spatial innovation, industrial and economic innovation, and talent innovation.

Specifically, the strategies include "spatial innovation" to connect the networks of Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam and create a one-hour living zone; building a Northeast Asia logistics platform through the construction of Gadeok New Airport and conversion to a high value-added port; and "talent innovation," aiming to establish industry-academia-research clusters linked to innovation cities and to intensively nurture smart talent.

At the end of his lecture, Governor Kim explained the procedures such as launching a joint promotion team and approving regulations for the launch of the "Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam Metropolitan Special Union" early next year, stating, "Building governance that can raise consensus not only among administrations but also among city and provincial residents is also an important task."

With the removal of uncertainties from nearly a year-long acting governor system and the first meeting between the two since Mayor Park's inauguration, it is expected that the pace of cooperation among the three cities and provinces of Gyeongnam, Busan, and Ulsan will accelerate.

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