With the vision of "Busan, a global marine hub city where waves of innovation surge," the city of Busan will invest a total of 675 billion won over the next five years. The focus is on establishing an execution base for Busan to leap into a global marine hub city by organically linking functions across the marine industry—administration, industry, finance, judiciary, and infrastructure.
On the 21st, Busan announced the "4th Comprehensive Plan for Fostering the Marine Industry of Busan Metropolitan City (2026–2030)." The comprehensive plan for fostering the marine industry is a statutory master plan established every five years under the "local government ordinance for fostering the marine industry to realize Busan as the maritime capital." It features the presentation of policy directions and goals for five years from 2026 to 2030 by comprehensively reflecting the current status of the marine industry, internal and external conditions, and future prospects.
In the plan established this time, the city set three core values: sustainability, digital innovation and future orientation, and strengthening global competitiveness.
By part, based on "sustainability," the city plans to prepare for the era of the Arctic route and build an eco-friendly, low-carbon-centered industrial ecosystem to create a new growth model where the environment and industry are in harmony.
In the "digital innovation and future orientation" sector, it will accelerate innovation across the existing marine industry and strategically foster future new industries to secure new growth engines. Regarding "strengthening global competitiveness," it plans to promote industrial advancement, expansion of global networks, and the establishment of a foundation for international cooperation.
The total resources to be投入 over the next five years amount to 674.69 billion won. It plans to投入 167.24 billion won in national funds, 116.28 billion won in city funds, and 391.17 billion won from the private sector.
Specifically, it will promote the transfer of global shipping corporations' headquarters to Busan and the creation of an eco-friendly large-scale ship repair cluster. It also plans to推进 projects to create the National Marine Ecological Park Eco Blue Marine and a Blue Carbon ESG sea ecological forest.
Park Heong-joon, the mayor, said, "Busan is one of the two pillars of South Korea's growth and, as the marine capital area, a city with sufficient competitiveness and potential," adding, "Based on this comprehensive plan, we will drive innovation and advancement across the marine industry to further strengthen our status as a global marine hub city."