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BUSAN -- Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon met Friday to discuss innovative strategies for the future of South Korea at Dongseo University in Busan.

Friday’s meeting was part of a three-day conference hosted by the Korean Political Science Association, titled “World in Crisis, Transforming Korea: Politics and Policies for the Future,” with 300 scholars from Korea and abroad in attendance.

During the meeting, Oh and Park each made keynote speeches about Korea's internal and external challenges in recent years and explored various solutions, including the development of new growth engines, political reforms and diplomatic security strategies.

Park pointed out that some of the limitations Korea faces include regional disparities, where certain regions in Korea are less developed and populated compared to the Greater Seoul area comprising Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province.

“The Honam region, in particular, has been relatively slow to develop,” said Park. The Honam region refers to Gwangju and the North and South Jeolla Provinces. “This has led to continuous stagnation and a relative decline in the Honam region, which then led to key companies, capital and talent flocking to Seoul.”

Oh added, “Korea’s chronic low growth and deepening polarization cannot be overcome with regional strategies that are centralized and standardized.” He proposed for the authority that is currently solely granted to the central government to be equally divided among different regions across Korea, including the Greater Seoul area, Yeongnam Region, Honam Region and the Chungcheong Provinces, to create strong local governments with development strategies specialized to the region.

“The administrative governance strategy must be completely changed, where all human resources, including elite officials, should be equally distributed to local governments,” added Oh. “The authority that the central government currently holds must be equally divided so that the cities that are currently in decline in terms of their population, economy and birth rates can figure out a way to develop again.”

Oh mentioned countries like Singapore and Ireland, and the Middle Eastern city of Dubai as examples of his newly proposed strategies. With Singapore, Ireland and Dubai’s size being similar to Korea’s four regions, Oh mentioned that their high corporate taxes and use of English as a common language could be a few of the many factors contributing to their success.

“We can open up a generation where Korea’s gross domestic product per capita reaches up to 10,000 dollars in 10 years if cities and regions can develop their own development strategies at their own discretion,” added Oh, emphasizing that competition between cities and regions is what “creates competitiveness” for them.

Following the two mayors’ dialogue, the two cities signed a memorandum of understanding at Busan Metropolitan City Hall to enhance the two cities’ competencies.

Friday’s memorandum centered around five policies for urban design, tourism, startups, data-driven administrations and urban green spaces.

After signing the memorandum, the Seoul Metropolitan Government added that it plans to share the city’s design policies with Busan and seek further cooperation to develop urban designs centered on citizens. Seoul-based small and medium-sized businesses will be able to work in Busan under the workcation initiative while youth startups based in the two cities will be able to mutually use the facilities provided by the two city governments.

The memorandum will also allow the city governments to share their data analysis techniques and look for ways to use locally customized data and statistics for municipal purposes. Regional events, such as garden fairs held by the city governments, will be promoted bilaterally.

“Busan holds a special place in my heart, as I lived here for four years since I was in grade 3 in elementary school,” said Oh during the memorandum signing ceremony. “I look forward to both cities developing more synergies in the future, and hope that today’s agreement will help Seoul and Busan take the leap from being the top two cities of Korea to being the top two cities of the world.”

Following the signing ceremony, Oh also conducted a special lecture on the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s key policies and administrative mindset for public officials based in the Busan Metropolitan Government.

Meanwhile, Friday’s memorandum is the third signed between the two cities, with the first signed in 2018 and the second in 2022. The two cities have cooperated in various fields, including people-to-people exchanges, to enhance city competitiveness.



lee.jungjoo@heraldcorp.com