Jeomulpo-gu fights back: 'Losing institutions hollows out the old city core'

Jeomulpo-gu in Incheon has effectively declared a counteroffensive, insisting that the city's old urban core can no longer afford to keep losing institutions and people to newer districts.

The district is pushing to attract the headquarters of a new maritime court, relocate the Incheon Port Authority (IPA) into its boundaries, and block the Bank of Korea's Incheon branch from moving out.

On the surface, the agenda revolves around three separate institutions. But the underlying intent is far sharper: to reverse the hollowing-out of the old city core that has accelerated as public agencies and key urban functions have migrated to new towns, and to restore Jeomulpo-gu as Incheon's central axis.

District Mayor Kim Chan-jin held a press conference Monday at Songnim Hall in the Songnim office to formally announce the three priorities for balanced development of the old city core.

The three demands are: attracting the maritime court headquarters to inner harbor Piers 1 and 8, relocating the IPA to Jeomulpo-gu, and keeping the Bank of Korea's Incheon branch in the district.

Bringing people back to the old core — the maritime court bid

The first card is the maritime court. Jeomulpo-gu has already secured a temporary courthouse and is preparing for an opening targeted in 2028. Now the district wants to go further and bring the court's permanent headquarters to inner harbor Piers 1 and 8.

The reason this matters goes beyond simply adding a courthouse. Maritime insurance, finance, arbitration and logistics industries — along with the specialized professionals they employ — tend to cluster around such a facility. The district plans to use the court as an anchor institution for the inner harbor redevelopment, leveraging it to draw private investment and stimulate surrounding industries.

Ultimately, what Jeomulpo-gu is after is not a single building. Starting with the public function of a court, the goal is to reconcentrate urban activity — drawing in legal, financial and logistics firms along with the skilled workers who follow them.

Demanding the IPA move in — 'Port-city revival without the port is hollow'

The second push is for the IPA to relocate. Jeomulpo-gu has been calling for the authority to move to the inner harbor since the redevelopment implementation plan for Piers 1 and 8 received approval in August.

The district's reasoning is that expanding commercial and tourism facilities alone cannot sustain lasting vitality in the old core. The key public agency that manages the port, it argues, must be physically present at the inner harbor site for the link between the port and the old city to come alive again.

Jeomulpo-gu particularly notes that it sits at the geographic and administrative center of Incheon Port, midway between the north port and the new port.

If the IPA relocates to Jeomulpo-gu and the maritime court headquarters follows, the district envisions building a new maritime industry base that integrates logistics, law and commerce. The broader aim is to move beyond treating inner harbor redevelopment as mere building construction, and instead engineer a full urban reorganization in which public institutions, industries and people move together.

Bank of Korea Incheon branch — 'We cannot let it go'

The third issue is not attraction but defense. Jeomulpo-gu has stated clear opposition to any review of relocating the Bank of Korea's Incheon branch outside the district.

The branch has long supported the old city core through regional economic research, support for small and medium-sized enterprises, and economic education. The district argues that rather than moving it to another area, the priority should be finding an alternative site within Jeomulpo-gu itself.

This is more than a routine plea to keep an institution in place. With the city's central functions already having shifted to new towns — leaving a shrinking population and a depressed commercial district behind — there is a palpable sense of crisis that losing yet another key public agency would deepen the hollowing-out further. The concern is not that one institution leaves, but that one more urban function disappears.

Three issues, one common thread: restoring urban function

The message Kim delivered Monday is unambiguous. Jeomulpo-gu was the birthplace of Incheon and the starting point of Korea's modern urban history, but the migration of core city functions to new towns has brought population decline and commercial stagnation. The launch of the integrated Jeomulpo-gu, he said, must be turned into a new turning point.

That is why three separate demands — attract the maritime court, bring in the IPA, hold on to the Bank of Korea — converge into a single political message.

Obstacles remain. Relocating or retaining institutions involves a web of competing interests: the operational and administrative efficiency of the agencies themselves, national government policy, and coordination among multiple stakeholders. The IPA relocation in particular is not a decision any local government can make on its own.

The final location of the maritime court headquarters will also require a judgment at the central government level.

Monday's press conference, therefore, is less a project announcement than a political signal — a formal demand from Jeomulpo-gu for a seat at the negotiating table with the central government, the political establishment and the relevant agencies.

Can Jeomulpo-gu's demands become Incheon's choice?

Kim said the three issues may appear unrelated, but they share a single direction: gathering people, businesses and public institutions back into Jeomulpo-gu to restore the old city's urban functions and create new engines of growth.

The maritime court headquarters would serve as the anchor for inner harbor redevelopment; the IPA relocation would act as the hub connecting the port to the old city; and keeping the Bank of Korea's Incheon branch would preserve the public and financial functions the old core depends on.

The ball is now in the court of Incheon city, the central government and the political establishment. Whether Jeomulpo-gu's three demands are dismissed as local grievances or adopted as a genuine urban strategy for inner harbor redevelopment and old-city revival ultimately depends on the choices those actors make.