Seoul meets Busan: Oh stresses more autonomy, city growth

BUSAN -- Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon called on the central government to decentralize authority and allocate more human resources to municipalities, enabling them to develop tailored strategies for addressing the population crisis and fostering future growth.

“Korea’s chronic low growth and deepening polarization cannot be overcome with regional strategies that are centralized and standardized," he said Friday at a conference held by the Korean Political Science Association in Busan.

“The administrative governance strategy must be completely changed, where all human resources, including elite officials, should be equally distributed to local governments ... so that the cities that are currently in decline in terms of their population, economy and birth rates can figure out a way to develop again."

Referring to Singapore, Ireland and Dubai of the United Arab Emirates as examples of his newly proposed strategies, the mayor said their high corporate taxes and use of English as a common language could be a few of many factors contributing to their success.

“We can open up a generation where Korea’s gross domestic product per capita reaches up to $100,000 in 10 years if cities and regions can develop their own development strategies at their own discretion,” he said at the conference titled “World in Crisis, Transforming Korea: Politics and Policies for the Future."

Oh also suggested dividing South Korea into four major megaregions — the Capital Region, Chungcheong Region, Yeongnam Region and Honam Region — so that each region, by establishing an integrated administrative governance system and securing strengthened revenue, could compete independently for regional development employing their own strategies.

"By dividing South Korea into four regions, we can easily implement strategies that could surpass Singapore's economic power within 10 years, if we are determined," he said.

On national security, the mayor stressed the importance of "strategic flexibility" and the need for South Korea to possess a nuclear capability similar to that of Japan.

"Seeking solutions solely under the US nuclear umbrella is merely a halfway measure," he said. "While full nuclear armament is not necessary, we must at least possess a nuclear capability comparable to Japan's. Enhancing nuclear potential is a viable alternative to North Korea's nuclear armament."

While Japan and Korea both possess the technology to develop nuclear weapons, Japan has greater nuclear technology, reprocessing capabilities and materials needed for production compared to Korea. This could allow the neighboring country to develop nuclear weapons more quickly than Korea if it chose to do so.

Following his speech, Oh visited Busan City Hall to sign a memorandum of understanding with Mayor Park Heong-joon to enhance the two cities’ competencies.

Friday’s memorandum focused on five policies for urban design, tourism, startups, data-driven administrations and urban green spaces.

After signing the memorandum, the Seoul Metropolitan Government added that it plans to share the city’s design policies with Busan and seek further cooperation to develop people-centered urban designs. Seoul-based small and medium-sized businesses will be able to work in Busan under the workcation initiative, while youth startups based in the two cities will be able to mutually use facilities provided by the two city governments.

The memorandum will also allow the city governments to share their data analysis techniques and look for ways to use locally customized data and statistics for municipal purposes. Regional events, such as garden fairs held by the city governments, will be promoted bilaterally.

“I look forward to both cities developing more synergy in the future, and hope that today’s agreement will help Seoul and Busan take the leap from being the top two cities of Korea to being the top two cities of the world," Oh said.