Park Heong-jun, the People Power Party's candidate for Busan Mayor, unveiled campaign pledges focused on expanding multi-child support, strengthening public education, and broadening cultural benefits, rolling out a platform centered on everyday livelihood issues.
Park held a press conference at the Busan Metropolitan Council on Wednesday and announced his second pledge, "Busan's Best Citizens," stating, "As Busan has emerged as a world-recognized livable city, the daily lives of individual citizens must now be elevated to global-city standards." The pledge is built on three pillars: a complete overhaul of the multi-child support system, the creation of public learning centers within a 15-minute walk, and the introduction of the Busan Best Citizen Pass.
Park first said he would unify the fragmented multi-child support policies under a single standard. Busan currently runs 35 multi-child support programs, but the age criteria vary by program, drawing criticism that citizens find the benefits difficult to access.
Accordingly, Park pledged to standardize the eligibility criteria to "youngest child aged 18 or under" and to introduce a digital multi-child card linked to Dongbaekjeon, Busan's local currency, so that families can automatically receive benefits without separate applications.
He also plans to expand cost-of-living support, including reductions in water, sewage and city gas fees, the distribution of volume-based garbage bag coupons, and the standardization of public sports facility fees. "I will change the structure in which benefits for the third child are cut off simply because the first child has entered college," Park stressed.
Education pledges featured prominently. Park plans to establish public learning centers across Busan's 16 districts and counties, creating conditions under which any citizen can access educational services within a 15-minute walk. The centers will offer global university preparation courses including IB, A-Level, AP and SAT, along with AI-based personalized learning services, and will provide public support for domestic and overseas university admissions consulting as well as editing for essays, interviews and writing assignments.
In particular, an "AI Global Career and Admissions Consulting Center" will be set up inside the public learning centers to provide free AI aptitude assessments and learning-style analysis for middle and high school students. Park explained that this would shift admissions guidance away from the current grade-focused approach toward a customized career design system based on each student's potential and aptitude.
Intergenerational lifelong education will also be pursued. Park plans to expand digital education and voice phishing prevention programs for seniors and to introduce an intergenerational mentoring system in which retired professionals serve as mentors for young people.
In the culture and sports sector, Park presented the "Busan Best Citizen Pass" as a signature initiative. Noting that Busan residents often struggle to secure tickets for major events such as BTS concerts, the Busan Fireworks Festival and Lotte Giants baseball games, Park said he would allocate 10% of seats at major performances and festivals to citizens on a priority basis.
Remaining seats on the day of performances will be offered to citizens at 30% to 50% discounts, and applicants will receive an annual 300,000 won ($220) pass for culture, sports and lifestyle services. Under the structure, citizens will pay 120,000 won while the Busan Metropolitan Government covers an additional 180,000 won.
"The most important achievement is for Busan citizens to feel that 'it is satisfying to live in Busan,'" Park said. "As Busan grows into a global city, we will also raise the quality of citizens' lives."
Park previously announced his first pledge, under which young people saving 250,000 won per month for 10 years could build assets of at least 100 million won.
