[2026 Parliamentary Audit] Lee Eog-weon: "KDB Relocation to Busan Settled as Not Going Ahead"

Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eog-weon said he understood that the plan to relocate the Korea Development Bank to Busan had been dropped. He said a decision on whether to designate an additional, third financial center would be made based on the results of a research study, with the goal of enhancing the competitiveness of the financial industry.

Lee Eog-weon, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, answers lawmakers' questions during a comprehensive audit of the Financial Services Commission and other agencies at the National Assembly on Oct. 22, 2026. Photo by Yoon Dongju

At a parliamentary audit by the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee on Oct. 22, Assemblyman Park Seong-hun of the People Power Party asked about the government’s official position on relocating the Korea Development Bank to Busan. Lee replied, “I understand that the matter has been settled in the National Assembly and that the relocation will not go ahead.”

Park also questioned the discussion of designating a third financial center while the bank’s relocation to Busan remained stalled. He said the bank would need to move for Busan to fulfill its role as a financial center in name and in reality, and asked the government to make clear whether it would continue pursuing the relocation or had given up on it.

He also raised concerns that designating an additional financial center could disperse financial resources and capabilities. Park said more than 17 years had passed since Busan was designated a financial center, but it had not been properly developed, and warned that an additional designation could weaken the competitiveness of existing financial centers. He also asked whether the designation criteria were based on the competitiveness of the financial industry or on political considerations to balance regions.

Lee explained that the purpose of designating financial centers was to enhance the competitiveness of the financial industry. He also noted that Busan had risen from 33rd to 22nd in the Global Financial Centres Index. Regarding an additional designation, he said that, now that an application had been submitted, a decision would be made through a fair process based on the results of a research study.

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