Preparation Complete for Full-Scale Launch of ‘Park Hyung-jun Administration’ Establishing Foundation for 8th Term Local Government to Realize ‘Busan Where You Want to Live Again’

100 Days Since the Launch of the 8th Civilian Administration: Setting New Administrative Directions, Organizational Restructuring, and Supplementary Budget Preparation

'2030 Busan World Expo Bid'... Government Bid Committee Completes National Bid P

Busan City Hall.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] Busan Metropolitan City has marked 100 days since the launch of the 8th term of the elected administration.

Following Mayor Park Hyung-jun leading Busan's administration for over a year after last April's by-election, this is the first 100 days since his inauguration as the elected 8th-term mayor with a full four-year term through this year's local elections.

While last year's initial administration period was a time to overcome Busan's stagnation and standstill caused by the previous mayor's vacancy, quickly normalize city governance, and create new waves of innovation reaffirming Busan's growth potential, the next four years of the 8th term will be the period to fully implement Mayor Park Hyung-jun's administration.

In his inaugural speech, Mayor Park declared to the citizens of Busan that 'citizen happiness' is the 'highest value of city governance' and that he aims to achieve Busan's development by realizing 'a happy city where people want to live again.'

The core goals to realize this are the six major city objectives: ▲ A citizen happiness city that empowers me ▲ A global hub city connected with the world ▲ A startup and finance city led by government, industry, and academia ▲ A digital innovation city leading the future ▲ A low-carbon green city advancing with eco-friendly technology ▲ A cultural tourism city attractive to everyone.

The 100-day mark since the launch was a period of reorganizing personnel and organizational systems to properly realize these six city goals, additionally budgeting for projects to be immediately executed in the 8th term, and turning Busan's current issues and development tasks into policies and projects.

In the first organizational restructuring, the 2030 Expo Promotion Headquarters and the Financial Startup Policy Office were newly established, clearly presenting the policy direction and goals that the 8th term Busan administration aims for.

Regarding the city's public institutions, which are among the largest nationwide, efficiency measures such as adjusting overlapping and similar functions are being pursued to innovate the public sector and actively respond to new administrative demands.

During the past 100 days, while preparing for the full-scale operation of Mayor Park Hyung-jun's administration, various achievements, both large and small, have been made.

The most notable achievement is undoubtedly securing strong momentum in attracting the 2030 Busan World Expo.

Included in the new Yoon Suk-yeol administration's national agenda, a dedicated secretary for the Expo attraction was established in the Presidential Office, followed by the launch of a government-private joint government attraction committee directly under the Prime Minister, establishing a nationwide system for the Expo bid.

In June, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo participated directly as the government representative in the candidate city competition presentation, demonstrating the Korean government's strong will to attract the 2030 World Expo in Busan to the International Bureau of Expositions member countries and the world.

On the 7th of last month, the government delegation visited the International Bureau of Expositions in Paris and submitted the bid plan containing Busan's vision for hosting the World Expo and detailed plans by sector, officially entering the overseas competition.

At the end of September, Mayor Park personally joined the 'Presidential Special Envoy Team,' composed of the city, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2030 Busan World Expo Bid Support Group, and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on a tour of the United States and Latin American countries, meeting high-level officials including the presidents of El Salvador and Costa Rica, as well as officials from Mexico and Panama, requesting support for the 2030 World Expo Busan bid and promoting Busan's competitiveness and charm as a global city.

This opened the curtain for the full-scale overseas negotiation activities that will be fiercely conducted going forward.

Key pending projects that will form the foundation for the World Expo bid are also gaining momentum.

The construction of Gadeokdo New Airport has begun the basic plan establishment service, shortening the usual period by more than two and a half years.

Mayor Park Hyung-jun's signature project and a core project of the citizen happiness city, the creation of the 15-minute city, has also shown substantial progress.

In July, the basic concept service for the 15-minute city was completed, preparing for the execution of related detailed projects, and in August, the first target site for the 'Happy Challenge' was selected, officially launching the pilot project for the 15-minute city model town.

In September, the representative facility of the 15-minute city, the children's complex cultural space 'Deullaknallak,' opened inside the city hall, the first among metropolitan cities, and projects to create communication and exchange spaces within the community are steadily progressing.

Immediately upon entering the 8th term, the 'Livelihood Economy Stabilization Measures' were prepared and implemented, and the nation's first Lucky7 House project for youth and newlyweds, as well as the Busan Hope Addition Apartment supply plan, have been steadily progressing, bringing tangible changes in citizens' economic stability and housing welfare.

Steps toward becoming Asia's top startup and finance city are also moving quickly.

In August, the Busan Startup Agency Establishment Promotion Team was launched to begin establishing the Busan Startup Agency, and the budget for hosting the first-ever 'Asia Startup Expo' this year as a platform for forming an Asian startup network was secured without delay.

The foundation as a digital financial city has also been further strengthened. Three domestic and international financial institutions, including Korea Citibank, were attracted, and D-Space was opened on the 63rd floor of BIFC. Several business agreements were also concluded to attract global blockchain infrastructure companies leading digital finance, such as Binance and Huobi Global Korea.

Good results were achieved in investment attraction to lead the digital innovation city within a short period.

Along with attracting seven companies in the digital transformation advanced industry sector, including the establishment of the Aviva Shipbuilding and Marine Research Center, investments totaling 623.2 billion KRW and the creation of over 1,700 jobs were realized.

Following the opening of the 'IBM Quantum KQC Hub Center' and the 'Busan Big Data Innovation Center' in August, the 'Busan Digital Innovation Academy (BDIA)' opened in October, gradually expanding the digital new industry ecosystem in Busan.

Following the enactment and enforcement of the Carbon Neutrality Basic Ordinance in July, the basic framework for the Busan Hydrogen Industry Promotion Plan was established, and the offshore smart city construction project has also begun in earnest, steadily advancing projects toward a 'low-carbon green city Busan.'

Various plans are being prepared toward a 'world-class cultural tourism attractive city Busan,' including promoting Busan-style workation, announcing strategies to create a global gourmet tourism city, and establishing plans to create a sports-for-all paradise city.

With the upcoming MLB World Tour Korea Series games in Busan next month and the long-awaited 2024 World Table Tennis Championships, Busan is expected to transform into a 'sports-for-all paradise city.'

Finally, the core task of the 8th term administration, the mayoral pledge implementation plan, was finalized.

Preparations are complete to fully promote 24 tasks and 108 detailed projects across the six major city goal areas to fulfill promises made to citizens.

During the 100 days since the launch, through steady preparation and substantial achievements, the foundation has been laid to fully implement Mayor Park Hyung-jun's 8th term administration, now poised to open a new future for Busan.

The 8th term administration plans to focus all its capabilities on realizing the six major city goals to create a city where citizens are happy and 'Busan where people want to live again,' emphasizing Busan's leap as a 'global hub city.'

As Mayor Park has consistently emphasized, the 8th term administration will spread a 'wave of innovation' throughout city governance and a 'wave of innovation' across Busan to accelerate the realization of Busan's future vision and development.

Marking 100 days since his inauguration, Mayor Park Hyung-jun pledged, "The highest goal of the 8th term administration is citizen happiness, and to achieve this, we will make Busan Asia's top citizen happiness city and a global hub city."

He added, "We will do our best to steadily promote the 8th term pledge projects promised to Busan citizens so that real changes and development can occur in citizens' lives," and requested, "I ask for the generous support and encouragement of Busan citizens for the 2030 Busan World Expo bid, which will be a groundbreaking momentum for the future development of Korea and Busan."

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