Busan-Jinhae free economic zone authority restructures to sharpen business focus

The Busan-Jinhae Free Economic Zone Authority has reorganized its structure to strengthen business-centered administration. The authority said Monday it approved the reorganization plan at the 151st extraordinary session of its joint council on April 30 and put it into effect June 1.

The restructuring expands the previous two-headquarters, four-division, 12-department setup into a two-headquarters, one-office, four-division, 14-department structure, with a newly created Planning and Coordination Office. The authorized headcount also grows from 102 to 110, with the eight additional staff to be seconded equally by Busan and South Gyeongsang Province.

To strengthen investment attraction and corporate support, the authority established a new Innovation Growth Division linking strategic industry functions with corporate support services. It also split the existing corporate policy function into two dedicated departments — a Corporate Innovation Department and a Move-in Support Department — to deepen specialization. The former Corporate Support Division has been reorganized into a Civil Affairs Support Division to handle complex, company-related permit and construction inquiries through a one-stop service.

With the development rate within the free economic zone reaching 98.7 percent, the authority is also pursuing an expansion of the zone's designated boundaries to secure space for new investment. The reorganization is intended to sharpen the authority's capacity to attract investment and advance the zone expansion.

The authority is also accelerating development of remaining sites, including the Ungdong and Songjeong districts. A dedicated task force is in operation, with administrative resources focused on preventing development delays and boosting investment attraction.

"This reorganization is focused on creating an administrative environment that businesses can actually feel and on tightening our execution framework," authority chief Park Seong-ho said. "We will concentrate our efforts on building an environment where companies can invest and grow."