People Power Party lawmakers from Busan, Incheon and Ulsan hold a press conference at the National Assembly on Monday calling for the withdrawal of the forced merger of port authorities. [People Power Party Busan chapter]
People Power Party lawmakers from Busan, Incheon and Ulsan hold a press conference at the National Assembly on Monday calling for the withdrawal of the forced merger of port authorities. [People Power Party Busan chapter]

People Power Party lawmakers from Busan, Incheon and Ulsan held a joint press conference at the National Assembly on Monday, urging the government to immediately drop its plan to forcibly merge the country's port authorities.

At the press conference, titled "Demanding the Withdrawal of the Forced Port Authority Merger," Rep. Jo Seung-hwan (Busan Jung-gu and Yeongdo-gu, Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee) said each of the country's four port authorities has developed its own distinct expertise and global competitiveness over decades. "The government's push to merge the port authorities is a historic regression that will destroy South Korea's maritime logistics competitiveness from within," he said.

The lawmakers expressed particular concern about the impact on Busan Port, which is simultaneously pursuing large-scale projects critical to its future competitiveness — including Arctic shipping route development and the North Port redevelopment. They warned that folding the port authorities into a single decision-making structure could sap the momentum behind those initiatives.

"Ports are the lifeline of their regions," Jo said. "We cannot allow armchair theorizing to ruin the future of South Korea's maritime logistics." He pledged to work alongside citizens, port workers and maritime industry workers to block the merger.

The press conference statement was issued in the names of all PPP lawmakers from Busan, Incheon and Ulsan: Gwak Gyu-taek, Kim Dae-sik, Kim Do-eup, Kim Mi-ae, Kim Hee-jeong, Park Sung-hoon, Park Soo-young, Baek Jong-heon, Seo Ji-young, Lee Seong-gwon, Lee Heon-seung, Jeong Dong-man, Jeong Seong-guk, Jeong Yeon-uk, Jo Gyeong-tae, Jo Seung-hwan, Ju Jin-woo, Bae Jun-young, Yun Sang-hyeon, Kim Gi-hyeon, Kim Tae-gyu, Park Seong-min and Seo Beom-su.

Meanwhile, the merger discussion stems from the Lee Jae Myung administration's drive to consolidate public institutions and streamline their functions. According to unions at the four port authorities, the government has been reviewing plans to merge public institutions with overlapping roles through a Public Institution Function Restructuring TF led by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. As part of that process, a proposal has emerged to consolidate all four port authorities into a single entity tentatively named the Korea Port Authority.

The plan has drawn growing pushback from local communities over concerns that port-level autonomy and specialized expertise could be undermined. On June 23, a coalition of Busan maritime and civic groups — including the Busan Maritime Capital Development Council, the Busan Port Development Council and the Busan Citizens' Alliance for Decentralization and Balanced Development — called for a halt to merger discussions, expansion of the Busan Port Authority's management autonomy, stable progress on the North Port redevelopment and Jinhae New Port development, and the concentration of maritime and fisheries public institutions in Busan. The Busan Port Authority labor union has also maintained its opposition to any merger that would erode individual port autonomy and expertise.


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