Busan's ruling, opposition parties clash over mayor's decision to scrap Pompidou, La Scala projects

A political battle is intensifying in Busan after Mayor Jeon Jae-soo announced he would halt plans to build a Busan branch of the Centre Pompidou and cancel an inaugural La Scala performance at the Busan Opera House. The People Power Party called the move "erasing the previous administration," while the Democratic Party of Korea defended it as a "responsible review."

PPP members of the Busan City Council held a press conference Friday, saying that if the Pompidou branch's location, contract terms or fiscal burden were the problem, alternative sites, renegotiation and scale adjustments were all possible. Deliberation, they said, is a process for finding better solutions — not a procedure for justifying cancellation. They also pressed Jeon directly, saying he should "compete for Busan's future, not against the former mayor."

On La Scala, the PPP lawmakers said polling showed 75 percent of citizens supported the performance and 64 percent of the cultural cooperation committee gave conditional approval, arguing that the city should have sought expanded sponsorship and greater participation by local artists. They called on Jeon to fulfill four demands: disclose the grounds for halting the Pompidou branch, reconsider the La Scala cancellation, present measures to address fiscal losses and damage to Busan's international credibility, and lay out a concrete vision for the city's future.

The Democratic Party's Busan chapter pushed back Thursday, arguing that policy continuity does not mean carrying forward a predecessor's projects unchanged. The party noted that while Jeon had pledged during his campaign to scrap both projects, he did not predetermine the outcome after taking office — instead spending three months conducting policy reviews, expert consultations, polling, public forums and town hall meetings before reaching a decision.

The party said the Pompidou branch "was a project that required fundamental reconsideration," adding that a project estimated to cost 110 billion won ($81.6 million) to build and 12.5 billion won a year to operate needed a concrete structure linking it to the creative work, exchange and talent development of local artists. Preserving the natural environment of Igidae while making it accessible to citizens, the party said, is also a form of cultural policy.

On La Scala, the Democratic Party took a different approach. It said citizens' desire to experience world-class performances in Busan deserved respect, but that the invitation plan was dropped because the originally envisioned private sponsorship, local arts community involvement and operational readiness of the opera house were all insufficient. The decision was not a renunciation of world-class performances, the party said, but a call to secure funding and partnership arrangements so that La Scala and other top-tier productions could eventually come to Busan.

The two sides also clashed over the proposed alternative — a mixed-use cultural and exhibition complex at the North Port redevelopment site. The PPP said the plan was merely a concept under discussion with a target opening in the second half of 2030, with no national government funding secured, and demanded that Jeon first disclose a concrete financing plan. The Democratic Party countered by pointing to 10 billion won in annual arts support and a 100 billion won cultural arts fund, saying it was now time to "back the vision with budgets and action."