On December 11, 2025, Chun Jae-soo arrived at Incheon International Airport. He had just returned from New York, having successfully bid for South Korea to host the 2028 United Nations Ocean Conference, the largest global talkfest on maritime sustainability. His gait was brisk. He was upbeat. So, it came as a surprise when he told the gaggle of journalists that he was resigning as minister of ocean and fisheries.
An allegation recently surfaced that he received 40 million won (about $26,000) in cash plus two designer watches from a cult known for bribing politicians for its pet projects. He categorically denied the allegations, explaining that the resignation was for him to “confidently respond to the investigations without being a minister.” Whether out of a good premonition or out of satisfaction that he was doing the right thing, Chun was all smiles as he walked off among the swarming journalists and cameras.
In April 2026, the ruling Democratic Party (DP) picked him to run for the Busan mayoral election on its ticket. The day after the party nomination, the authorities decided not to press charges for his alleged graft. Their findings, however, raised eyebrows.
Circumstantial evidence was rife; the investigators identified one of the watches allegedly given to him, discovered who bought it from where, and traced the said watch to Chun’s acquaintance and then to a watch repairer. Yet, there was no direct evidence the watch and cash fell on Chun’s lap. Even if there was, the statute of limitation would have barred law enforcement from issuing proceedings against Chun.
Most suspiciously, his staff wiped their computers and hammered the memory hardware, for which they were charged with destruction of evidence.
The cult also purchased hundreds of copies of Chun’s autobiography, allegedly seeking to influence Chun to smooth their school project. The authorities, however, concluded that there was not enough evidence to establish Chun’s awareness of the cult’s purpose and action. “He was given an indulgence,” the opposition People Power Party (PPP) lamented.
On June 4 – six months after he resigned as minister of ocean and fisheries – Chun Jae-soo was elected as mayor of Busan. He received 50.5 percent of the votes, some 46,000 votes more than the incumbent mayor from the PPP. That difference isn’t much, given Busan’s population of 3.3 million. Still, Chun’s victory is all the more significant because Busan is historically conservative, and it’s normally harder to beat an incumbent.
Chun is no stranger to Busan. He grew up in the city until he moved to Seoul for college, where he studied history and politics. After graduation, he started working at the National Assembly as part of legislation support staff. From early on, he aligned himself with pro-labor liberal policy by joining former President Roh Moo-hyun’s presidential office. He unsuccessfully ran for parliamentary elections in 2008 and 2012, vying to represent a district in Busan.
But he finally won his district for three consecutive terms in 2016, 2020 and 2024. He may be the only liberal figure Busan residents have come to like. In 2024, for instance, he was the only DP parliamentarian to be elected out of all of Busan’s districts.
The pervasive sense that the incumbent mayor, Park Heong-joon, had failed to deliver for Busan has also boosted Chun’s popularity. The biggest disappointment was Busan’s failure to secure the host spot for the 2030 World Expo. Park and the former Yoon Suk-yeol administration staked so much on the bid and hyped up Busan’s potential to win so inordinately that the eventual letdown was hard to recover from.
Meanwhile, the Park projects that did materialize are not popular. For instance, more than 80 percent of Busan residents said the city should scrap its plan to open up a branch of the Centre Pompidou, a French contemporary art museum. Critics say the Pompidou Busan project will damage coastal environment and comes at an exorbitant cost.
Chun is known for thinking up big, useful ideas backed by clear roadmaps. While he only had a short tenure of a few months as minister of ocean and fisheries, his track record shined. He moved the entirety of the ministry to Busan from an inland city, ensuring the ministry’s relevancy and proximity to maritime problems. He also persuaded HMM, South Korea’s largest container shipping company, to relocate its head office to Busan. Due to the complex maritime financing and legal issues and fundamental restructuring of systems governing mariners and ports, it was considered a feat of conceptual and negotiating finesse.
Likewise, his mayoral blueprint for Busan is detailed and credible. His mantra has been “the maritime capital of Busan.” To achieve this, Chun laid down a few concrete plans.
First, he means to convince the government to establish a dedicated maritime policy committee under direct control of the president. So far, the Ministry of Ocean and Fisheries has focused on sea transport and fishery. Any maritime policy has encountered an unnecessarily complicated collaboration processes among the trade, transport, environment, science and foreign ministries. Chun wants a maritime policy committee to be set up in Busan so that it can holistically command everything from shipbuilding to maritime sovereignty with the support of the city and the Ocean Ministry.
Chun’s second plan centers on the Northern Sea Route. He intends for Busan to be the home base from which South Korean ships can dominate the Northern Sea Route transport market. He already created a dedicated department within the Ocean Ministry. His transition committee has met Busan’s shipbuilding companies, part suppliers, and researchers to compile their needs and devise Busan’s financing plans for more ice-class vessels to ply the transpolar passage and more container ships to traverse the coasts of Russia and Canada.
Third is increasing Busan’s role in maritime legal disputes. South Korea’s market share in the global shipbuilding industry remains in the 20 percent range. In terms of carbon-efficient, high-value ships, South Korean shipbuilders are second to none. Meanwhile, Busan ranks second in the world for transshipment volume and fourth for shipping connectivity. Still, there has been no special court in South Korea to handle cases involving legal disputes over maritime contracts, finance, employment, ship collisions and pollution, and insurance. As a result, South Korean parties incur some $320 million annually in extra legal fees just because the cases are conducted abroad such as in the Netherlands and Singapore.
Chun wants the Maritime International and Commercial Court to be established in Busan, and the National Assembly has legislated for its creation in Busan in 2028. In the future, instead of settling international disputes via courts located thousands of miles away, contracting parties can include governing law clauses designating Busan as having jurisdiction over their disputes.
Lastly, Chun wishes for a new government investment agency to be based in Busan. The Lee Jae-myung administration wants to establish a Southeast Investment Agency so that it can foot the bill for “strategic investment” that would enhance the “geostrategic value” of the Korean peninsula’s southeastern corner “at a time of fierce competition for maritime supremacy in the Far East.” Given Busan’s importance in maritime infrastructure and industry, Chun is most likely to succeed in luring the agency to Busan. Some $40 billion is expected to be injected in the local economy with the birth of this agency.
Chun labeled his whole effort and plan for Busan as the “Youth New Deal.” Busan will hire young people itself and dispatch them to local companies and projects related to maritime shipping and renewable energy generation.
His grand blueprint for Busan will see the light of day particularly thanks to the central government’s wholehearted, full-throttle support for him and the city. For instance, a maritime policy committee requires the president’s approval, while a government investment agency requires legislation. President Lee and Chun stand on the same vantage point regarding their maritime plans for South Korea – which is perhaps why the DP gave Chun its party ticket to run for the Busan mayoral election.
Chun referred to himself as the DP’s “seed” sown in Busan and “a valuable asset” for the government in its grand scheme of leveling up the local economy and the country’s maritime competence. “I have a strong conviction and faith that the government will support me to the hilt,” he said upon his election as Busan’s new mayor.
With his tenure slated to begin on July 1, Busan is expecting fair winds and full steam ahead.
