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Mayor Park Heong-joon Listens to Early-Morning Distribution Workers: Busan Metropolitan City Holds Meeting to Revitalize Agricultural Wholesale Market

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) is stepping forward to communicate directly with distribution workers to find solutions for the agricultural distribution sector, which is struggling with high inflation and weakened consumption, and to support the resurgence of the Eomgung Agricultural Wholesale Market.

The City announced that today (27th) at 09:00, it will hold the “Eomgung Agricultural Wholesale Market Revitalization and On-site Communication Meeting” in the conference room of the Eomgung Agricultural Wholesale Market Management Office in Sasang-gu, attended by 19 stakeholders including Mayor Park Heong-joon, City Council member Kim Chang-seok, representatives of wholesale market corporations, and intermediate wholesalers.
This event has been organized to directly communicate with distribution workers and discuss on-site challenges and policy improvement directions in order to revitalize the Eomgung Agricultural Wholesale Market, the largest agricultural distribution hub in Busan.

The meeting will begin with participant introductions and opening remarks, followed by listening to suggestions from distribution workers and discussing major issues related to market operations.
Key topics to be discussed include measures to address user inconvenience caused by aging facilities, expansion of low-temperature storage and logistics efficiency to ensure a stable year-round food supply, safety management measures such as fire prevention, and improvements to the working environment of distribution workers in open facilities affected by abnormal weather conditions.

In particular, as the importance of safety management has recently increased due to market fire incidents, the City plans to pursue measures such as a full replacement of outdated fire-prevention circuit breakers and the maintenance and reinforcement of intelligent fire detection systems. Through these efforts, the City aims to establish a wholesale market environment that is safe from fire hazards and to focus administrative capacity on protecting both workers’ valuable assets and public safety.

In addition, considering on-site difficulties such as aging facilities and safety issues, the City plans to increase the facility improvement budget by approximately 350 million KRW compared to the previous year and secure an additional 320 million KRW to invest in fire prevention safety facilities.

Furthermore, the City expects that the Eomgung Wholesale Market will gain new opportunities for advancement in connection with the expansion of transportation networks in western Busan, improvements in logistics infrastructure, and the development of surrounding complexes, and plans to simultaneously pursue mid- to long-term strategies to strengthen competitiveness.

Mayor Park Heong-joon stated, “We will actively reflect the opinions proposed at today’s meeting in city administration and move beyond short-term improvements to develop sustainable market policies that look 10 to 20 years ahead,” adding, “Based on voices from the field, we will continue to promote facility improvements, safety reinforcement, and improvements in working conditions.”
He further emphasized, “Amid rapid changes in climate and distribution trends, the answers lie in the voices from the field,” and added that “Busan Metropolitan City will continue to provide policy support and maintain communication, centered on the Marine and Fisheries Bureau, so that the Eomgung Wholesale Market can once again leap forward as a central hub for agricultural distribution in Korea.”

Meanwhile, after the meeting, Mayor Park plans to visit the wholesale market site in person to inspect working conditions and facility operations, meet distribution workers who are on duty from early morning, offer encouragement, and conclude his on-site engagement.