President Lee Jae Myung and First Lady Kim Hea Kyung speak with a merchant at Namhang Market in Busan on May 27. [PROVIDED BY THE BLUE HOUSE]
President Lee Jae Myung attended the national “Sea Day” ceremony in Busan on Wednesday and pledged to turn the city into “Korea’s undisputed maritime capital” while developing the broader southeastern region into a southern maritime economic zone. The annual event has previously rotated among cities nationwide, but this year’s ceremony was held in Busan to commemorate the planned relocation of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries there.
Lee also unveiled plans to expand logistics infrastructure linking ports, airports, railways and highways while creating a tourism belt spanning the entire southern coast. Yet this was not the first time the president had focused political attention on the Busan-Ulsan-South Gyeongsang region.
At a Cabinet meeting the previous day, Lee said the relocation of the oceans ministry and shipping company HMM to Busan would be followed by additional transfers of public institutions and private companies. The ministry then announced plans to develop Busan as a maritime business center, Ulsan as a clean-energy hub and South Gyeongsang as an artificial intelligence-based supply chain center.
