A promotional poster for the Busan Sea Pizza [Busan city government]
A promotional poster for the Busan Sea Pizza [Busan city government]

Busan city will hold a launch event for the "Busan Sea Pizza (WDC PIZZA)" at the Seomyeon Jungang branch of Jaemo Pizza on Tuesday at 5 p.m.

The event marks the first anniversary of Busan's selection as the 2028 World Design Capital and was organized in collaboration with Jaemo Pizza, one of the city's signature culinary brands. About 80 people are expected to attend, including Mayor Jeon Jae-soo, Jaemo Pizza CEO Lee Jae-mo, local business representatives, youth and workers with disabilities. The program will include a congratulatory video from World Design Organization President and goodwill ambassador Lee Jun-ho, an introduction to the new menu's development concept, and a launch performance and tasting session bringing together diverse members of the community.

The Busan Sea Pizza is the first seafood-based signature menu item Jaemo Pizza has introduced since its founding. It draws on local specialties — premium 100-percent pollock fish cake from Busan homegrown company Goraesa Eomuk, Busan-style pollock roe and Gijang green onions — to capture the city's culinary identity. The fish cake is shaped to evoke the waves of Gwangalli Beach, and the seafood toppings bring to life the vitality of Busan as a maritime city, making it a menu item designed to satisfy both the palate and the eye.

The set drink, "WDC Midnight Purple," blends red — symbolizing the energy of Busan's citizens — with blue, representing openness and connection, to produce the purple that serves as the official brand color of the 2028 World Design Capital Busan.

The city plans to build on the collaboration to develop a mutually beneficial urban brand model combining local flagship brands with design, and to identify public-private partnership design projects that will help create a content ecosystem with local businesses. Particularly in response to last year's record-breaking growth in foreign tourist arrivals, the city intends to step up promotion through food influencers and tourism programs, and to develop the concept into an experiential tourism product — one that lets domestic and international visitors, including cruise passengers, enjoy Busan's design and culinary culture together.

Mayor Jeon said the 2028 World Design Capital designation is "a process of discovering and spreading the value of design within the lives of citizens," and pledged to "maximize the city's brand appeal by pursuing a wide range of projects with local businesses through the medium of design."


kaf2002@heraldcorp.com