On December 11, 2025, Chun Jae-soo arrived at Incheon International Airport. He had just returned from New York, having successfully proposed that South Korea host the United Nations Ocean Conference in 2028, the world’s largest debate on maritime sustainability. His gait was rapid. He was optimistic. It was therefore with surprise that he announced to the crowd of journalists that he was resigning from his post as Minister of Oceans and Fisheries.
An allegation recently surfaced that he received 40 million won (about $26,000) in cash along with two designer watches from a sect known for bribing politicians for its pet projects. He categorically denied these allegations, explaining that his resignation allowed him to “respond with confidence to inquiries without being a minister”. Whether out of good premonition or satisfaction at having done the right thing, Chun was all smiles as he walked away among the throngs of reporters and cameras.
In April 2026, the ruling Democratic Party (DP) chose him to run in the Busan mayoral election on its list. The day after the party’s nomination, authorities decided not to press charges over its alleged corruption. Their findings, however, raised eyebrows.
Circumstantial evidence was commonplace; investigators identified one of the watches allegedly given to him, discovered who purchased it and where, and traced said watch to Chun’s acquaintance and then to a watch repairman. Yet there was no direct evidence that the watch and money fell into Chun’s lap. Even if it did, the statute of limitations would have prevented law enforcement from pursuing charges against Chun.
The most suspicious thing is that his collaborators erased their computers and hammered the memory, for which they were accused of destruction of evidence.
The cult also purchased hundreds of copies of Chun’s autobiography, allegedly seeking to influence Chun into facilitating his school project. Authorities concluded, however, that there was insufficient evidence to establish that Chun was aware of the sect’s purpose and actions. “He received an indulgence,” the opposition People Power Party (PPP) said. deplored.
On June 4 – six months after he resigned as Minister of Oceans and Fisheries – Chun Jae-soo was elected mayor of Busan. He received 50.5 percent of the vote, some 46,000 votes more than the incumbent PPP mayor. This difference is not large, given Busan’s population of 3.3 million. Yet Chun’s victory is all the more significant because Busan is historically conservative and it is normally more difficult to defeat an incumbent president.
Chun is no stranger to Busan. He grew up in the city until he moved to Seoul to study history and politics. After graduating, he began working at the National Assembly as part of the legislative support staff. From the beginning, he aligned himself with liberal pro-labor politics by joining the presidential office of former President Roh Moo-hyun. He ran unsuccessfully in the 2008 and 2012 legislative elections, vying to represent a district in Busan.
But he finally won his district for three consecutive terms in 2016, 2020 and 2024. He is perhaps the only liberal figure that Busan residents like. In 2024, for example, he was the only DP parliamentarian to be elected in all districts of Busan.
Widespread sentiment that incumbent Mayor Park Heong-joon failed to deliver in Busan also boosted Chun’s popularity. The biggest disappointment was Busan failure to guarantee the host place for the Universal Exhibition of 2030. Park and the old Administration of Yoon Suk-yeol bet so much on the offer and exaggerated Busan’s potential victory so disproportionately that the possible disappointment it was hard to get over it.
Meanwhile, the park projects that have come to fruition are not popular. For example, more than 80 percent of Busan residents said the city is expected to abandon plans to open a branch of the Center Pompidou, a museum of contemporary French art. Critics say the Pompidou Busan project will harm the coastal environment and be exorbitantly expensive.
Chun is known for dreaming up big, useful ideas backed by clear roadmaps. Even though he only served a few months in office as Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, his record was stellar. He moved the entire ministry to Busan from an inland city, ensuring the ministry’s relevance and proximity to maritime issues. He also persuaded HMM, South Korea’s largest container shipping line, to move its headquarters to Busan. Due to the complexity of maritime financial and legal issues and the fundamental restructuring of the systems governing seafarers and ports, this was seen as a feat of conceptual and negotiating finesse.
Likewise, his plan for mayor of Busan is detailed and credible. Its mantra is “the maritime capital of Busan”. To achieve this, Chun has come up with some concrete plans.
First, he intends to convince the government to create a committee dedicated to maritime policy under the direct control of the president. Until now, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries has focused on maritime transport and fishing. Any maritime policy has encountered unnecessarily complicated collaboration processes between the ministries of Commerce, Transport, Environment, Science and Foreign Affairs. Chun wants a maritime policy committee to be established in Busan so it can comprehensively control everything from shipbuilding to maritime sovereignty, with support from the city and the Oceans Ministry.
Chun’s second plan focuses on the Northern Sea Route. He wants Busan to be the base from which South Korean ships can dominate the transportation market on the North Sea Route. It has already created a dedicated department within the Ministry of the Ocean. Its transition committee met with Busan shipbuilding companies, parts suppliers and researchers to compile their needs and develop plans to finance Busan for more ice-class ships to use the transpolar passage and more container ships to cross the coasts of Russia and Canada.
Third, Busan’s role in maritime legal disputes should be increased. South Korea’s market share in the global shipbuilding industry remains in the 20 percent range. In terms of high-value, carbon-efficient ships, South Korean shipbuilders are second to none. Meanwhile, Busan ranks second in the world for transhipment volume and fourth for maritime connectivity. Yet there is 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 a year in additional legal fees simply because business is conducted overseas, such as in the Netherlands and Singapore.
Chun wants the International Maritime and Commercial Court to be established in Busan, and the National Assembly has legislated for its establishment in Busan in 2028. In the future, instead of settling international disputes through courts thousands of miles away, contracting parties can include governing law clauses designating Busan as having jurisdiction over their disputes.
Finally, Chun wants a new government investment agency to be based in Busan. The Lee Jae-myung administration wants establish a Southeast Investment Agency so that it could foot the bill for “strategic investments” that would enhance the “geostrategic value” of the southeastern part of the Korean Peninsula “at a time of fierce competition for maritime supremacy in the Far East.” Given Busan’s importance in maritime infrastructure and industry, Chun is likely to succeed in attracting the agency to Busan. Some $40 billion should be injected into the local economy with the creation of this agency.
Chun labeled all his efforts and his plan for Busan as a “New Deal for Youth”. Busan itself will hire young people and send them to local businesses and projects related to shipping and renewable energy production.
His big project for Busan will see the light of day, not least thanks to the central government’s full and unqualified support for him and the city. For example, a maritime policy committee requires approval from the president, while a government investment agency requires legislation. Presidents Lee and Chun are of the same view regarding their maritime plans for South Korea – which perhaps explains why the DP gave Chun its nomination to run in the Busan municipal elections.
Chun referred considers itself as the “seed” of the PD sown in Busan and as a “valuable asset” for the government in its major project of leveling the local economy and the country’s maritime skills. “I have the firm belief that the government will support me to the end,” he said upon his election as the new mayor of Busan.
With his term set to begin on July 1, Busan expects fair winds and full steam ahead.