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Oceans minister nominee vows to relocate ministry to Busan by year-end
Oceans Minister nominee Chun Jae-soo on Wednesday reaffirmed efforts to relocate the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries to South Korea's largest port city of Busan by the year's end and help turn the city into a strategic foothold of Arctic shipping routes that could reshape global maritime trade.
"I will do my best to make South Korea a global oceans power by thoroughly preparing the country for the upcoming era of Arctic shipping routes," Chun told reporters as he headed to his office for parliamentary confirmation hearing preparations.
Chun said the plan to relocate the oceans ministry is part of the government's broader initiative to foster a more balanced regional development, which is mostly focused in Seoul at the moment, and turn Busan, located about 325 kilometers southeast of the capital, into a strategic hub for the envisioned Arctic routes.
His remarks came a day after President Lee Jae Myung instructed the ministry, which currently sits in the central city of Sejong, to review possible measures to relocate to Busan before the end of the year.
The relocation plan was one of Lee's key election campaign pledges aimed at developing Busan into a leading global maritime hub and dispersing the excessive concentration of economic assets in Seoul.
Chun said South Korea should move fast to secure a competitive edge against major economies in the Arctic shipping routes, emerging sea lanes that could potentially offer shorter and more efficient trade routes between Asia and Europe, noting that the United States, Russia, China and Japan have been moving to preoccupy the routes in recent years.
Before being tapped as the new oceans minister, Chun was serving his third term as the only ruling Democratic Party lawmaker representing a constituency in Busan, which is considered a stronghold for the main opposition People Power Party.
nyway@yna.co.kr
Source Text
Date
2025.07.07
Views
29
According to Yonhap News,
Oceans Minister nominee Chun Jae-soo on Wednesday reaffirmed efforts to relocate the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries to South Korea's largest port city of Busan by the year's end and help turn the city into a strategic foothold of Arctic shipping routes that could reshape global maritime trade.
"I will do my best to make South Korea a global oceans power by thoroughly preparing the country for the upcoming era of Arctic shipping routes," Chun told reporters as he headed to his office for parliamentary confirmation hearing preparations.
Chun said the plan to relocate the oceans ministry is part of the government's broader initiative to foster a more balanced regional development, which is mostly focused in Seoul at the moment, and turn Busan, located about 325 kilometers southeast of the capital, into a strategic hub for the envisioned Arctic routes.
His remarks came a day after President Lee Jae Myung instructed the ministry, which currently sits in the central city of Sejong, to review possible measures to relocate to Busan before the end of the year.
The relocation plan was one of Lee's key election campaign pledges aimed at developing Busan into a leading global maritime hub and dispersing the excessive concentration of economic assets in Seoul.
Chun said South Korea should move fast to secure a competitive edge against major economies in the Arctic shipping routes, emerging sea lanes that could potentially offer shorter and more efficient trade routes between Asia and Europe, noting that the United States, Russia, China and Japan have been moving to preoccupy the routes in recent years.
Before being tapped as the new oceans minister, Chun was serving his third term as the only ruling Democratic Party lawmaker representing a constituency in Busan, which is considered a stronghold for the main opposition People Power Party.
nyway@yna.co.kr
Source Text
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Source: Yonhap News (June 25, 2024)