Jun Jae-soo (pictured), the Democratic Party's candidate for Busan mayor, unveiled a plan to revitalize the social economy to create jobs for vulnerable groups and inject vitality into neighborhood commerce.
On the 14th, Jun said, "Busan City's neglect of the social economy is leading to the collapse of the regional ecosystem," announcing pledges centered on expanding budgets and funds and restoring "BS SHOP," the shuttered social-economy shopping mall.
"The social economy is a hidden pillar of the regional economy, supporting jobs for vulnerable groups and neighborhood commerce," Jun said. "Cutting off support for the social economy for political reasons is no way to revive the regional economy."
He first pledged to restore BS SHOP, the social-economy shopping mall that Busan City closed in 2023, and strengthen its functions for public institution procurement and sales channel support. BS SHOP was once a platform where 153 local social-economy enterprises sold some 440 products, but since its shutdown, on-the-ground firms have faced shrinking sales channels, Jun said. The Busan Social Enterprise Council estimates the economic losses from the closure at around 12 billion won.
Jun also emphasized that he would benchmark social-economy innovation town cases in South Chungcheong and South Gyeongsang provinces to build an integrated support system linking education, startup, and sales channel functions. His pledges also include making the Social Economy Promotion Committee a permanent body, supporting the incorporation of the Busan Social Enterprise Council as a nonprofit corporation, and creating a social economy fund.
The pledges align with the Lee Jae-myung administration's push to restore social economy policies. The government is expanding social economy-related budgets this year, which had been sharply cut under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, as it realigns related policies.
According to Jun's camp, Busan City's social economy budget plunged from 28.8 billion won in 2020 and 19.3 billion won in 2022 after state subsidies were reduced. It fell to 1.5 billion won in 2025, ranking among the lowest nationwide, and has partially recovered to about 6 billion won this year amid the government's budget expansion.
The budget cuts directly shrank the sector on the ground. The number of social enterprises in Busan fell by about 27%, from 324 at the end of 2023 to 236 at the end of 2025. The number of workers at social economy enterprises, including cooperatives, also declined 5.2% year-on-year to 7,773 last year.
Busan's budget lags far behind other local governments. As of last year, Busan's social economy budget stood at 1.58 billion won, significantly below Gyeonggi's 62.3 billion won, Seoul's 8.5 billion won, Jeju's 4.2 billion won, and South Gyeongsang's 2.2 billion won. While 11 local governments nationwide, including Seoul, Gyeonggi and South Gyeongsang, have set aside a combined 22.1 billion won in social economy funds, Busan has no such allocation on record.
Jun pointed out that the downsizing of administrative organizations is fueling controversy over policy backsliding. In 2024, Busan City downsized its dedicated social economy organization from a "division" to a "team" and folded the Social Economy Support Center from an independent body into the Busan Economic Promotion Agency.
"Even as Busan City has effectively left them to fend for themselves, social economy enterprises are safeguarding jobs for nearly 8,000 workers in the region," Jun said. "Through the creation of social economy innovation towns and strengthening distribution center functions, I will restore local jobs and communities."
