With three days remaining until the June 3 local elections, Democratic Party Busan mayoral candidate Jeon Jae-soo is accelerating his last-minute push for votes by unveiling pledges on artificial intelligence (AI) industry promotion and elderly welfare.
Jeon's election campaign committee on Sunday announced four AI pledges aimed at transforming Busan into a "global AI innovation hub city," along with a series of "small but certain happiness" pledges focused on the daily lives of senior citizens.
The core of the AI pledges is to make Busan not merely a smart city but a testing ground for an AI-based urban operations model. Jeon said he would build an AI traffic management platform, AI life assistant services, and an AI safety city system to address commuting congestion, administrative wait times, and safety issues.
Drawing particular attention is the "Busan Youth AI Equality Rights" pledge targeting young people. The proposal stems from the recognition that as proficiency in generative AI is increasingly tied to employment competitiveness, new education and employment gaps are emerging based on whether individuals can afford paid AI services.
Jeon promised to provide a "Busan AI-Pass," which allows access to paid AI services, to youth and young adults aged 15 to 29, and to establish high-performance GPU-based AI hubs in each district so that anyone can utilize an advanced AI environment. The plan aims to narrow the digital gap between the Seoul metropolitan area and other regions while preventing the outflow of young talent.
The pledges also include building an "AI Film and Video Center" that combines AI with the film and video sector, one of Busan's key industries. The strategy is to create a new content industry ecosystem by fusing AI technology with existing cultural content assets, including the Busan International Film Festival.
In the area of administrative innovation, Jeon emphasized that he would introduce an AI-based Fraud Detection System (FDS) to manage local subsidy disbursements in real time and reduce budget leakage. He explained that the recovered funds would be reinvested in welfare and care sectors, creating a virtuous cycle.
In contrast, the "small but certain happiness for seniors" pledge announced the same day focused on resolving small inconveniences in daily life rather than on cutting-edge technology.
Based on opinions received through "Jeon Jae-soo's Mailbox," a citizen policy proposal platform, Jeon said he would expand barber and beauty services exclusively for seniors, operate a "MacGyver squad" for daily life support linked to senior employment, run a mobile denture cleaning service, and expand the Busan Happiness Mileage program.
The senior barbershop initiative aims to simultaneously address the disappearance of neighborhood barbershops and the social isolation of older citizens. The daily life support MacGyver squad similarly focuses on reducing inconveniences for elderly people living alone by helping with small home repairs such as replacing fluorescent lights or fixing faucets.
Jeon previously announced pledges including expanding the budget for senior meal services, supporting the establishment of a Second Half of Life Support Center, and creating a dementia-friendly city.
