Kim Kyungsoo and Jeong Youngdoo: "Gimhae as the Core City of the 'Bu-Ul-Gyeong Megacity'"

Joint Pledge Announced on May 4

Key Promises on Transportation, Industry, and Healthcare

Kim Kyungsoo, the Democratic Party of Korea candidate for Governor of Gyeongnam Province, and Jeong Youngdoo, the candidate for Mayor of Gimhae, stated on May 4 that Gimhae should not be viewed merely as a satellite city of Busan and Changwon, but rather as the center of a 1 million-strong Eastern Gyeongnam living zone and a key hub in the megacity. They proposed a structural transformation strategy encompassing transportation, industry, and healthcare.

Kim Kyungsoo, Democratic Party of Korea candidate for Governor of Gyeongnam. Photo by Yonhap News

That morning, the two candidates held a press conference at the Gyeongnam Provincial Government Press Center, where they announced a joint pledge to develop Gimhae into the central city of the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam (Bu-Ul-Gyeong) megacity.

Candidate Kim stressed, "Over the past four years, with the suspension of the Bu-Ul-Gyeong megacity project, Gimhae's growth has also stalled. I promise to turn Gimhae from a city people simply pass through into a central megacity where all routes converge and branch out once again."

He presented three visions for Gimhae: ▲ establishing Gimhae as a 30-minute living zone at the heart of the Bu-Ul-Gyeong region and as a metropolitan transportation hub; ▲ making it a base for export-oriented advanced manufacturing; ▲ and founding the Eastern Gyeongnam Medical Center.

Candidate Kim also revealed plans to resume the proposal for a new KTX Gimhae Station, and to establish an integrated transfer hub connecting the Southern Coast Metropolitan Express Railway, Bujeon-Masan Line, and the Southeastern Region Circular Metropolitan Railway. Furthermore, he pledged to nurture Gimhae’s roughly 9,000 small and medium-sized enterprises—which have so far focused on parts supply—into leaders in power semiconductors and bio-healthcare industries, and to build an industrial structure where high value-added products made in Gimhae are exported worldwide through the new Gadeok International Airport and Jinhae New Port.

Additionally, Kim pledged to strengthen essential healthcare functions such as emergency, infectious disease, rehabilitation, pediatric, and services for vulnerable populations, thereby establishing a public healthcare system tailored to local medical needs.

Jeong Youngdoo emphasized that he would implement Kim's metropolitan vision in Gimhae through concrete project plans. He stated, "We will establish a MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) hub centered on the Roh Moo-hyun Convention Center, and create a new growth engine for Gimhae by promoting a mixed-use development that combines a Youth Startup Special Zone and a Content Innovation Town in the area around KTX Gimhae Station." He also announced plans to host the "2042 Gaya Expo" to foster Gimhae as a world-class historic and cultural city.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.