Busan extends Myeongji district development works to end of 2028

Busan Metropolitan City has extended the development period of the Busan-Jinhae Free Economic Zone Myeongji district by two years, moving the project’s completion from 31 December 2026 to 31 December 2028. The change is contained in the 24th revision of the district’s development plan, issued as Busan Metropolitan City Notice No. 2026-440 and published in the Official Gazette No. 21357 of 9 November 2026. The same notice re-phases the annual investment plan, adding 2,551억 원 for 2027 and 5,113억 원 for 2028 while sharply reducing the amount scheduled for the current year.

The district was originally designated on 30 October 2003 by Ministry of Finance and Economy Notice No. 2003-20, and the plan has since been amended repeatedly by the finance, knowledge-economy and trade, industry and energy ministries and by the city itself. The gazette text lists 23 earlier amending notices, the most recent being Busan Metropolitan City Notice No. 2024-452 of 13 December 2024. The 24th revision is made under Article 7 of the Special Act on the Designation and Operation of Free Economic Zones and Article 3 of its enforcement decree, and is signed by the Mayor of Busan.

Two more years for construction and completion procedures

The notice gives a single reason for the extension: the schedule has been recalculated to take account of the construction period for the second phase and the administrative procedures required to close out the project. Under the heading “main reasons for change”, the document states that the project period was extended “in consideration of the phase-two construction period and the time needed for the administrative procedures for project completion”.

The operative change appears in item 4 of the notice, covering the implementation of the development project:

• Previous period: 30 October 2003 to 31 December 2026.
• Revised period: 30 October 2003 to 31 December 2028.

Annual investment plan re-phased toward 2027 and 2028

The total project cost is unchanged at 40,005억 원, roughly 4 trillion won, and the breakdown of expenditure by category is also unchanged. What changes is the annual investment plan, which shifts a large block of spending out of this year and into the two years now added to the schedule.

• Spending up to and including 2025 remains identical: 18,673억 원 to 2018, 4,493억 원 in 2019, 4,616억 원 in 2020, 430억 원 in 2021, 441억 원 in 2022, 650억 원 in 2023, 1,111억 원 in 2024 and 1,262억 원 in 2025.
• 2026 falls from 8,329억 원 in the previous plan to 665억 원.
• 2027 is newly budgeted at 2,551억 원.
• 2028 is newly budgeted at 5,113억 원.

The method of financing the project is expressly left unchanged, as is the itemised breakdown of project costs by category.

New representative for the state land agency; other plan elements untouched

The notice also records a change to the implementing body’s representative. The project operator remains the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (한국토지주택공사), headquartered at 19 Chunui-ro, Chungmu-dong, Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province; the named representative changes from 이한준 to 이성훈.

Every other element required by the enforcement decree is marked as unchanged: the zone’s name, location and area; the stated need for designation; the land-use and core infrastructure plan; the population and housing plan; the transport plan; health, medical, education and welfare facilities; environmental conservation; the framework for attracting and settling foreign investors; the supply of dedicated sites to foreign-invested firms; the reinvestment of development gains; and the detailed lists of land, buildings and rights to be expropriated or used. The industrial attraction plan is recorded as not applicable.

Documents open for public inspection in Busan

The plans supporting the revision are available for inspection under Article 6 of the special act and Article 5 of the enforcement decree. The city directs readers to the Investment Promotion Division of Busan Metropolitan City (부산광역시 투자유치과) on 051-888-4472.

The notice is dated 9 November 2026 and signed by the Mayor of Busan, and runs on page 245 of the gazette.

The extension keeps roughly 4 trillion won of public development spending in play for two further years in a district that anchors the western Busan waterfront, and it defers to 2027 and 2028 the bulk of the money that the previous schedule had earmarked for the current year. For contractors working the second phase, for firms that had lined up sites on the expectation of a 2026 completion, and for the local property market in Busan’s western districts, the practical effect is a two-year reset of delivery dates and of the flow of construction spending.

Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of Korea (관보), No. 21357, 9 November 2026, notices of local government bodies, p. 245 (official reference: Busan Metropolitan City Notice No. 2026-440).