The location for the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries' new headquarters has been finalized as the mixed-use port district within the North Port redevelopment zone in Busan. As a result, the North Port area is expected to emerge as the new central hub of Korea's maritime administration.
According to Busan's Dong-gu district and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries on the 6th, the mixed-use port district within the North Port redevelopment zone was selected as the final construction site following the ministry's public competition for the new headquarters site. The ministry plans to finalize the scale of the building, then proceed through basic and detailed design to construct the independent new headquarters by 2030.
The finally selected site is at 1270 Choryang-dong, Dong-gu (E-1-1 block of the ocean cluster in the North Port Phase 1 redevelopment site), located near the landmark site. It received high marks for its excellent transport access, with the KTX Busan Station and the Busan Port International Passenger Terminal nearby, and for the expected benefits of an expanded metropolitan transport network linked to future North Port redevelopment.
In particular, the site has the most ample space among the candidate locations in the competition, giving it spatial expandability for future clustering of maritime and fisheries-related central administrative agencies and public institutions and for organizational expansion, which served as a key competitive advantage. The fact that administrative procedures such as urban management plan changes could be minimized, allowing the 2030 construction schedule to proceed without disruption, was also reflected.
This decision is expected to accelerate the restructuring of the maritime industry ecosystem in the North Port area. Following the confirmation of the temporary headquarters of the Busan Maritime and International Commercial Court (the former Busanjin Station building) in Dong-gu, and with the new headquarters of national ocean shipping carrier HMM and others set to move in, the area will be reborn as the nation's largest maritime business hub where administrative, judicial, and shipping companies are clustered. If linked with additional relocation of maritime and fisheries public institutions being promoted by the government, the synergy effect is expected to grow even larger.
Four local governments, including Dong-gu as well as Jung-gu, Nam-gu, and Gangseo-gu, competed to attract the headquarters in this competition.
"We will spare no administrative support until 2030, when the new Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries headquarters is completed," said Kang Cheol-ho, head of Dong-gu district. Kwak Kyu-taek, a lawmaker of the People Power Party (Busan Seo-gu and Dong-gu), stressed, "We will complete North Port, which holds 150 years of history since its opening, as the center of national maritime administration that will lead Korea's next 100 years and a world-class ocean cluster where maritime administration, industry, finance, judiciary, and research and development functions are clustered."
