Jun Jae-soo, the Democratic Party candidate who won the Busan mayoral race in the 9th nationwide local elections, promised a major transformation of the city, saying he would "humbly accept the will of citizens who chose change." With Jun defeating People Power Party candidate Park Heong-jun, who sought a third term on the strength of incumbency, significant shifts are expected in both Busan's political landscape and its regional development strategy.
According to the National Election Commission's tally as of Wednesday, with 99.52% of votes counted, Jun secured 881,908 votes (50.56%), beating Park's 835,074 votes (47.87%) by a margin of 46,834 votes.
Shortly after his victory was confirmed, Jun said, "This win is not a personal victory for me, Jun Jae-soo, but a great victory for the citizens who made a wise choice for democracy and Busan's future transformation." He added, "Now that the election is over, we must all come together as one."
"I will become the mayor that citizens want and prove myself through results and outcomes rather than words," he stressed. "I will never let go of the belief that Busan must become better and the responsibility that politics must change citizens' lives."
Reflecting on the basis of his victory, Jun said, "I did not get carried away by polling results and tried to meet even one more citizen to show my sincerity. The fact that Busan citizens opened their hearts to Jun Jae-soo translated into votes."
He also outlined his administrative direction. Jun said he would advance Busan's development and complete its transformation into a maritime capital based on close cooperation with the central government.
He plans to establish an "Arctic Shipping Route Promotion Headquarters" to build a cooperative framework between the city and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. He also intends to create four major maritime industry belts—maritime business, maritime financial knowledge, future-oriented maritime special zones, and a global fisheries blue belt—to shift Busan's industrial structure toward high-value-added services.
He also plans to revitalize the local economy and create youth jobs by establishing future industry innovation clusters by region and expanding youth employment through links between public institutions and local universities.
Jun is scheduled to pay his respects at Chungnyeolsa Shrine on Wednesday morning before holding a press conference. He will then begin his first official schedule by visiting Bongha Village in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, to pay his respects at the grave of late former President Roh Moo-hyun.
With Jun's inauguration approaching, sweeping changes are expected across the "Park Heong-jun-style city administration" pursued over the past four years.
The first area expected to change is cultural projects. Jun's top campaign pledge was a "100-Day Emergency Measures for Busan Livelihoods," envisioning the use of large-scale cultural project budgets for livelihood support. As a result, the Centre Pompidou Busan branch project and the La Scala invitational performance commemorating the opening of the Busan Opera House—both flagship initiatives championed by Park—are likely to be reviewed from scratch.
The Sajik Baseball Stadium reconstruction project, which has drawn keen attention from Busan baseball fans, is also expected to be reconsidered. During the campaign, Jun pledged to build a retractable-roof dome stadium in the North Port redevelopment area and convert the existing Sajik stadium into a community sports facility, raising the question of whether existing plans will be revised as a new point of contention.
Changes are also expected in the metropolitan administrative system. Jun has presented the establishment of a Busan-Ulsan-South Gyeongsang megacity as a core vision, raising the possibility that existing discussions on Busan-South Gyeongsang administrative integration could effectively halt or be shelved long-term.
The 15-minute city initiative and the Busan-style next-generation express rail (BuTX) project—both signature policies currently being pursued by the city—are also likely to face possible pace adjustments or policy modifications depending on the new administration's direction. However, given that Jun stated during the campaign that "the most important things in a bureaucratic organization are predictability and continuity," there is also a possibility that projects already substantially underway will be approached through supplementation and adjustment rather than complete scrapping.
Changes in personnel are also inevitable. With an ordinance linking the term of the Busan mayor to those of heads of city-invested and city-funded institutions being applied for the first time in this election, large-scale replacements of institutional heads are expected.
