[Contribution] Busan Maritime Capital Special Act opens a new path for balanced national development

On the 7th, the ‘Special Act on Support for Busan Maritime Capital Relocation Institutions’ (hereinafter referred to as the Special Act) was passed by the National Assembly’s Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee. It has great symbolic and practical significance in that it has created a hybrid model that can simultaneously realize balanced national development and the simultaneous growth of the maritime industry.

This bill aims to promote balanced development of the country by decentralizing the administrative and industrial structures concentrated in the metropolitan area, and to establish a new growth axis for the Republic of Korea by strengthening the competitiveness of the maritime industry centered on Busan. In particular, this special law is the result of cooperation that transcends the ruling and opposition parties and incorporates the contents submitted by Kim Tae-seon (Ulsan-dong) of the Democratic Party, Kwak Gyu-taek (Seodong-gu, Busan), and Cho Seung-hwan (Busan Jung-yeongdo) of the People Power Party. This is a symbolic scene that declares bipartisan support for the calling of the times as the new growth axis of the Republic of Korea and the center of the maritime capital, beyond political factions and interests of specific regions.

Busan Port, the center of the relocation, is the world's second-largest transshipment port and seventh-largest container port as of 2024, and is the undisputed logistics center of Northeast Asia, handling 24.4 million TEU of containers and 13.5 million TEU of transshipment cargo annually. As such, the core of this special law is to lay the foundation for the systematic growth of the 'Buul-Gyeong Marine Economic Zone', which is the heart of Korea's marine industry and where the offshore plant market worth 230 trillion won is concentrated, centered on the site that is taking a leap forward as a smart port with the opening of Korea's first fully automated dock in April 2024.

To this end, the special law broadly stipulates support measures such as support for relocation costs of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, stabilization of housing for civil servants, education of children, and improvement of living conditions. In addition, by establishing a new marine specialized district system, it was possible to create a marine industry complex cluster that combines administration and industry, thereby laying the institutional foundation for Busan to establish itself as the ‘Maritime Capital of the Republic of Korea’ in name and reality. If the National Assembly quickly completes the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and the plenary session, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries will complete its relocation to Busan within 2025, and Korea will provide an important turning point toward becoming a true maritime power.

In order for this important decision to lead to practical results such as dominating the $3 trillion global maritime market by 2030, it is necessary to quickly complete the legislative process for the special bill as well as follow-up legislative processing. This is because to be able to call it a true maritime capital, it must not simply move the signboards of ministries, but also transfer shipbuilding and offshore plant policy functions to fill actual administrative authority.

The capabilities of all entities must be brought together, including the active participation of industry and academia to successfully establish ‘Maritime Capital Busan’ on a new legal basis, strategic support from the financial sector to attract domestic and foreign investment, and professional assistance from the local legal community to legally support all of these processes. The process of completing all these tasks is the path to establishing Busan as Korea's undisputed maritime capital and a successful model for balanced national development, and it is the path to laying a solid foundation for Korea's new prosperity.

Park Dong-il, representative attorney at Daeryun Law Firm

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[Contribution] Busan Maritime Waterworks Special Act opens a new path for balanced national development (Shortcut)