The 4th UN Ocean Conference in 2028 will be held in Busan. The host city selection committee held its second meeting in Seoul on the afternoon of the 10th and chose Busan Metropolitan City as the host city. Two applicants, Busan and Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, competed in the open call. Jeju was not selected.
Confirmation procedures remain. The host city will be fixed once the 4th UN Ocean Conference preparatory committee, chaired by the prime minister, passes a resolution. The name Busan will also be written into the Modalities Resolution to be adopted by the UN General Assembly at the end of the year.
The selection committee also decided to recommend a plan to hold some of the pre-events and special events linked to the conference in Jeju in 2027 and 2028.
Korea became the host country at the UN General Assembly in December 2025. The UN Ocean Conference is held every three years to review implementation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14. Goal 14 calls for protecting the marine environment and resources while using them sustainably.
There is no larger or higher-level international conference in the ocean field. The previous meeting, the 3rd conference, was held in Nice, France, in 2025.
The scale differs from an ordinary international conference. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries expects about 20,000 people to visit Busan, counting officials from 193 UN member states, international organizations and non-governmental organizations. The conference is scheduled for June 2028.
The government has set up a preparatory body. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries launched the interagency "UN Ocean Conference Preparation and Planning Group" and held a plaque-unveiling ceremony on the 3rd. Hwang Jong-woo, Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, said the ministry would work together with the city of Busan and related agencies to prepare for the conference.
As reasons for choosing Busan, the selection committee cited the conditions of having ocean industry, research and education gathered in one place and the connection with the purpose of the conference. This was the explanation given by Choi Dong-ju, chair of the selection committee, after the meeting.
The announcement of the host city is only the beginning.
The conference is a meeting where countries check with one another how far they have implemented SDG 14. Among the 20,000 people gathered at the Busan conference hall in June 2028, Korea will have to show results as the host country. Less than two years remain. During that time it must build up a record showing what it has changed in its seas and by how much.
The Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation is running "RE:BLUE, the Blue Habit That Protects the Sea," a participatory marine plastic resource circulation campaign, at major beaches nationwide throughout August. It opened at Sokcho Beach on the 8th and continues at Haeundae and Songjeong in Busan on the 15th, Daecheon in Boryeong on the 22nd, and Eurwangni in Incheon on the 29th. Every Saturday, the first session runs from noon to 2 p.m. and the second from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The corporation's chairman is Kang Yong-seok.
Five days from now, on Saturday, the campaign moves to Haeundae and Songjeong. The state of Korea's seas that the world will examine in June 2028 is not unrelated to the fragments picked up on that sand. The international conference will be held two years from now. The sea will be the same this weekend as well, and the time required is two hours.
