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Mayor Park Heong-joon Stresses Transition to a Horizontal Decentralization System Equivalent to Constitutional Reform

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that on October 1 at 2:00 p.m., it held the Yeongnam Regional Policy Forum at the Changwon Convention Center, co-hosted with the Governors Association of Korea and six Yeongnam provinces.

This forum was the second in a series of regional policy discussions commemorating the 30th anniversary of the reinstatement of local autonomy, serving as a venue to discuss the role of the Yeongnam region in Korea’s sustainable development.

Participants included Park Heong-joon, Mayor of Busan; Yoo Jeong-bok, Chairman of the Governors Association of Korea; Kim Doo-gyeom, Mayor of Ulsan; and Park Wan-soo, Governor of Gyeongsangnam-do, along with other regional governors, who engaged in an in-depth debate on the current state of local autonomy and strategies for future regional development.

The event consisted of an opening ceremony, a special governors’ dialogue, and expert presentations followed by a general discussion. In particular, the special governors’ dialogue focused on five key agenda items: reorganization of the local administrative system, establishment of metropolitan transportation infrastructure, welfare policies that resonate with citizens, fostering of regional flagship industries, and the new government’s national policy agenda and regional pledges.

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Mayor Park emphasized that the 30th anniversary of local autonomy this year marks a historic turning point for decentralization and presented key solutions for Korea’s sustainability, including regional innovation, interregional solidarity, and practical balanced development.

Regarding the reorganization of the local administrative system, he stressed the urgency of reforming the system to a quasi-federal level that grants genuine authority, budgetary power, and autonomy to local governments.

He noted that Busan, leveraging its logistics strength as the world’s second-largest transshipment port, must expand metropolitan transportation networks, including the next-generation Busan-type Express Rail (BuTX) centered on Gadeokdo New Airport, to reduce travel times within the Busan–Ulsan–Gyeongnam economic zone to within 30 minutes.

On welfare policy, he argued that beyond mere material distribution, an investment strategy focusing on improving the quality of citizens’ lives is needed, introducing the achievements and plans of the “15-Minute City Busan,” a flagship policy of the 8th popularly elected administration.

He also highlighted that Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam already function as an interlinked economic bloc through division of roles, and should create new growth engines based on regional strengths in electricity, energy, and maritime industries, to make a leap toward a new economic zone.

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In the second part of the forum, experts gave presentations and held discussions on strengthening the competitiveness of regional industries and on the direction of the new government’s higher education innovation policies.

The session produced specific policy proposals for enhancing practical competitiveness while diagnosing the current regional situation, serving as an opportunity to establish concrete strategies to be presented to the central government.

Meanwhile, the special governors’ dialogue of this policy forum will be broadcast on October 19 at 11:00 p.m. on KNN and UBC Ulsan Broadcasting.

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Mayor Park Heong-joon stated, “Over the past 30 years, the local autonomy system has established a framework of checks and balances, monitoring, and evaluation. Now it is time to allow regions to create, build, and improve what they truly need on their own.”

He further emphasized, “Although a constitutional reform for decentralization is the ultimate institutional reform required, prior to that, it is urgent for the central government and political circles to fundamentally change their perception of decentralization. The time has come to substantially transfer authority and responsibility to local governments, which best understand the realities of their regions.”