BUSAN — Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongsang Province are accelerating cross-border cooperation to link their territories into a single economic and living zone, resuming their policy council after 17 months. The three governments plan to jointly develop advanced shipbuilding and shipping, future mobility, aerospace and defense, and next-generation nuclear power and energy as shared growth engines, while expanding regional transport networks to create a "one-hour living zone" connecting 7.5 million residents.
Gyeongsang Province, Busan and Ulsan held the fourth Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam Policy Council at the Westin Josun Busan on the 8th and adopted a joint declaration on mega-regional cooperation containing these plans. Busan Mayor Jeon Jae-soo, Ulsan Mayor Kim Sang-wook and Gyeongsang Province Governor Park Wan-su attended, establishing the first framework for mega-regional cooperation since the ninth popularly elected local governments took office.
The three governments will operate a standing consultative body in line with the central government's "five poles, three special zones" balanced growth policy and flesh out cooperation tasks in industry, transport, daily life and administration. They will also jointly draw up a six-year mega-regional development strategy covering 12 strategic tasks across three areas: the economic zone, the living zone and the implementation system. The core aim is to link industry, talent and investment bases so that each region's competitiveness expands into the economic strength of the entire area, and to increase shared use of daily services to realize a single living zone.
In industry, the three governments will draw up a plan this year to nurture growth engines under the five poles, three special zones framework and identify anchor companies in four fields: advanced shipbuilding and shipping, future mobility, aerospace and defense, and next-generation nuclear power and energy. They will also pursue manufacturing upgrades linked to central government mega-projects in semiconductors, artificial intelligence data centers and physical AI.
The governments will also work together to expand transport networks for the one-hour living zone. They selected the Busan-Yangsan-Ulsan metropolitan railway, the southeastern circular metropolitan railway, the Chojeong-Hwamyeong regional road and a bus rapid transit system as projects for joint response.
On the second round of public institution relocations, the three governments will jointly work to attract key institutions and link them with public institutions already in innovation cities to spread the ripple effects across the entire region. They will also launch a joint task force to secure state funding, responding to the central government's budget review in the second half of this year and to the reflection of their projects in national plans.
Mayor Jeon said the move is "a first step toward Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam being reborn as another growth axis of South Korea, rivaling the capital region." Governor Park said, "We will narrow our differences and further strengthen the areas where cooperation is needed."
Mayor Kim said, "Since Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam led the way in mega-regional cooperation, I hope this becomes the starting point for the closest cooperation in the country."
Differences remain among the three governments over the procedures and timing of an administrative merger, however, and related content was left out of this joint declaration.
