Building an Integrated Trans-border Economic Region between Busan and Fukuoka

With an overview of the increasing local-to-local interaction between Fukuoka and Busan, this article discusses the impact of trans-border interactions on the tourism, logistics, and manufacturing industries in these cities with reference to the case of the Øresund trans-border cooperation between Denmark and Sweden. As a response to increased interaction, Busan and Fukuoka agreed to build an integrated trans-border economic region in 2009. However, such issues as integrated business environment and trans-border industrial cooperation must be addressed in order to achieve the goal of integrated development across the border. On an optimistic note, this paper concludes that the creation of the Busan-Fukuoka region can result in a model for cross-border cooperation in Northeast Asia.