People Power Party Busan mayoral candidate Park Heong-joon held a press conference at the Busan City Council on the 11th and said, "We will complete global city Busan through the early opening of Gadeokdo New Airport, the transfer of the Korea Development Bank, and 10 million tourists."
Park's third pledge has three main parts: creating a mixed-use city through the early opening of Gadeokdo New Airport, building an industrial city through the transfer of the Korea Development Bank, and attracting 10 million foreign tourists a year.
Park said, "With the early opening of Gadeokdo New Airport, we will connect Busan with the world and create a city where corporations and key talent come on their own and stay," adding, "Furthermore, we will connect the footsteps of 10 million foreign tourists across all 16 districts and counties to raise citizens' incomes."
As a concrete plan, Park said, "We will transfer and expand Gimhae Airport's nonstop routes to North America and Europe to Gadeokdo and also attract nonstop routes to Southeast Asia to strengthen the nonstop network, while connecting Gadeok–Haeundae–Ulsan through the opening of the Busan rapid transit (BuTX) and the groundbreaking of the second coastal road to spread the airport effect across Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang."
Behind the airport, the plan is to install a mixed-use city combining business, hotels, conventions, and housing together with a logistics industrial complex to grow Gadeokdo New Airport into a Northeast Asia logistics hub airport.
In industry, based on enacting the Special Act on Global Hub City and the transfer of the Korea Development Bank to Busan, the city will seek to attract corporations, research institutes, and universities, bring in renowned foreign scholars and talent, and support overseas expansion by startups and mid-sized companies.
Park said, "Building on the rise in foreign tourists, we will diversify tourism hubs to East Busan, West Busan, the original downtown, and Geumjeongsan, and complete a mixed tourism ecosystem that combines the industries of gastronomy, culture, and exhibitions to open an era of 10 million foreign tourists." There is also a plan to revive the local economy by expanding the "Visit Busan Pass," a foreigner-only unlimited-use tourism pass, to spread tourism spending to traditional markets, alleyway businesses, and small merchants.
Park said, "Although the Lee Jae-myung administration pushed Busan's future back by six years through a Cabinet meeting on Nov. 11, we will not stop for even a day." He continued, "These three pledges are execution plans that we personally drafted and refined while leading Busan's city administration over the past five years," adding, "The person who knows Busan best and has done it right must open Busan's tomorrow."