Busan mayoral candidate vows to designate English as official language

Jeong Kyu-jae, a journalist who runs the YouTube channel, “Jeong Kyu-jae TV,” is running in the April by-election for Busan mayor. Courtesy of office of Jeong Kyu-jae

By Jung Da-min

An independent candidate running for the April 7 by-election for Busan mayor has pledged to designate English as an official language of Korea's second-largest city.

Jeong Kyu-jae, a journalist who runs a YouTube channel called, “Jeong Kyu-jae TV,” featuring conservative political content, wants to turn Busan into an international city whose residents can speak English “fluently” if he gets elected.

“The goal of my plan to designate English as the city's official language is to assure that students in Busan receive an advanced level of English language education in elementary, middle and high schools, so that they can speak fluent English after graduating from high school,” Jeong said in a recent written interview with The Korea Times.

Jeong, who was a former editorial writer for the Korea Economic Daily newspaper, said he also plans to create more business opportunities for multinational enterprises by abolishing regulations targeting them. He said he believes the two policies ― turning Busan into an “English-friendly” city and creating more business opportunities ― could create synergy and make the southern port city more attractive to multinational companies.

“Among my other plans for Busan, is to establish an international coalition among cities in the Asia-Pacific region, such as San Francisco, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Osaka, Fukuoka and Singapore, tentatively called 'Pacific Cities Confederation (PCC),'” Jeong said. “I plan to forge agreements with the member cities of the PCC for economic cooperation initiatives, such as visa-free entry, duty-free trade, and application of the lowest level of regulations.”

Designating English as the city's official language will be essential in turning Busan into an international economic hub through partnerships with other coastal cities, according to Jeong.

“I'll have all schools in Busan provide a high level of English education similar to those at international schools. For that, we will need a large number of native English-speaking instructors. I'll have young, English-speaking people from PCC member cities come to Busan freely and work as English lecturers. Busan citizens will be able to receive English education at reasonable prices and the lecturers will get jobs without major difficulties in terms of visas or taxes.”

He also vowed to reform Busan's educational system so that students will be able to learn more practical English that they can use in business, rather than focusing on rote memorizing of vocabulary and grammar structures simply to get good scores in examinations.

Meanwhile, other mayoral hopefuls competing for the Busan mayoral post are also vowing to revive the city's economy through different policies, such as creating a fund for startups or accelerating the government's plan to build a new airport on Gadeok Island, just off the coast of the city.

Park Heong-joon, a former National Assembly secretary general with the conservative main opposition People Power Party, and Kim Young-choon, a former National Assembly secretary general with the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, are among the other candidates.