Busan Metropolitan City and South Gyeongsang Province have jointly proposed a special bill to establish a "unified special city," igniting locally-led discussions on administrative integration to counter the Seoul metropolitan area's dominance. The proposal goes beyond simple administrative boundary consolidation to present a "complete local government" model that would receive substantial authority and fiscal transfers from the central government.
Busan Mayor Park Heong-jun and South Gyeongsang Governor Park Wan-su held a joint press conference with regional lawmakers at the National Assembly on Wednesday and proposed the "Special Act on the Establishment of the South Gyeongsang-Busan Unified Special City and Creation of an Economic and Industrial Capital." The bill was co-sponsored by lawmakers including Rep. Lee Seong-kwon, Jo Kyung-tae, Park Soo-young, Chung Jeom-sig, Kang Min-kuk, and Choi Hyung-doo.
The special bill focuses on merging the two regions into a single unified special city to develop it as a core economic and industrial hub while establishing a new standard for decentralized administrative integration.
The core of the bill centers on securing substantial autonomy. Specifically, it includes fiscal decentralization reforms to adjust the national-to-local tax ratio to approximately 60-to-40, securing autonomous legislative and organizational authority, and maximizing fiscal flexibility through exemptions from preliminary feasibility studies. The bill also encompasses the transfer of authority for corporate attraction and industrial development, securing land use and regional development rights, as well as operational authority over key infrastructure including Gadeok New Airport and Busan Port. The intent is to lay the groundwork for independently nurturing regionally specialized industries such as aerospace and maritime logistics.
The two governors emphasized that with the acceleration of regional decline due to youth population outflow and weakening industrial bases, they can no longer simply wait for central government decisions. They pointed out that just as global cities like Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Dubai have grown through bold devolution of authority, any discussion of administrative integration without the transfer of authority and fiscal resources would be ineffective for Busan and South Gyeongsang. Both regions plan to finalize residents' intentions through a referendum within this year and establish the institutional foundation with the goal of launching the unified special city in 2028.
"The decentralized administrative integration we are proposing is both a cry for survival and a challenge from regions seeking their own path forward," Mayor Park said. "We will certainly prove that Busan and South Gyeongsang can establish themselves as a new growth axis for Korea."
"We cannot waste our golden opportunity just waiting for the government's response on enacting a basic integration law," Governor Park said. "The government and ruling party must make the decision to ensure this special bill becomes the new standard for decentralized administrative integration in Korea."
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party of Korea's candidates for governors of Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang held a joint campaign launch ceremony for the "Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam Maritime Capital Megacity" in front of the late former President Roh Moo-hyun's grave at Bonghwa Village in Jinyeong-eup, Gimhae on the same day. They pledged to immediately restore the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam Megacity initiative, secure a record-breaking budget, and work as "one team" to attract the second wave of public institution relocations and major corporate investments.
In early 2022, the three provincial assemblies had passed the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam Megacity charter, bringing the megacity launch within sight. However, after all three governors were replaced by members of the People Power Party in the June 2022 local elections, the megacity initiative was effectively abandoned.
The Democratic candidates presented a blueprint to develop Busan as a global logistics hub serving as a "maritime capital," transform Ulsan into the center of Korea's industrial transformation as an "AX (AI transformation) manufacturing innovation capital," and revive Korea's economy with South Gyeongsang as a "global future industries capital."
