By Do Je-hae
Staff Reporter
BUAN ― The absence of an international airport in North Jeolla Province is hindering foreign investment in the reclaimed Saemangeum area ? the world’s biggest landfill, which is to be developed as a major industrial and tourism center by 2020.
Recently, U.S. developer Federal Development scrapped a plan to build a multi-tourism complex on the province’s signature island of Gogunsan, citing a lack of international flight access.
The cancellation was a major setback for North Jeolla, commonly known as “Jeonbuk.” Attracting foreign investors and tourists to the region is crucial, particularly for the success of the 2015 completion of the Saemangeum-Gunsan Free Economic Zone (SGFEZ).
Korea designated the Saemangeum and Gunsan area as its sixth and final free economic zone in May 2005 to make full and strategic use of the Saemangeum reclamation, and fulfill the backward province’s long aspirations for a national project that would secure balanced development for the region through automobile, shipbuilding and machinery industries, and tourism.
“As one can see, the most glaring impediment to the globalization of Saemangeum is the airport issue. Who has ever heard of a global business center without an international airport,” Vice Governor Song Wan-yong said Friday.
“If the project is to reach its full potential, foreigners should be able to visit the area through direct flights.”
The remarks came during a tour of the area arranged by the provincial administration for the press and the advisory committee of the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.
North Jeolla, often considered one of Korea’s most underdeveloped regions, is in the only province in the country without an international airport.
Rather than building a new one, North Jeolla has been trying to expand runways at Gunsan Airport to allow international flights, but objection from the residing U.S. Air Force has hampered the province’s plans.
One of two major Air Force installations operated by the U.S., the Gunsan Air Base is home to the 8th Fighter Wing. In August, they rejected the province’s request to allow the operation of a Gunsan-China flight by Eastar Jet, a low-budget carrier.
Based on a 1992 agreement between the two countries, the U.S. Air Force exercises the ownership of the Gunsan Airport runways. The agreement limits commercial flight operation to “10 domestic flights per day.”
“Expanding the Gunsan Airport is a very complex issue, because it requires revisions to the SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement). There are security and customs issues at hand as well,” Song said.
Governor Kim Wan-joo met with Air Force Chief of Staff last week to urge the government to consider the issue in future SOFA negotiations.
The province had originally planned to build an international airport in Gimje, but instead has focused on enlarging the facilities of Gunsan Airport by 2020. The airport has a single-story terminal, constructed in 1992, with a capacity of 380,000 passengers a year.
“There are some concerns that there isn’t sufficient passenger demand for an international airport in our region. The economy is important, but I think that we need to first consider the profound significance of the project in the balanced development of the nation,” Song said.
International airports have been suffering huge deficits due to lack of passengers, especially in Muan and Gwangju in South Jeolla Province.
The question of expanding the airport for expediting the SGFEZ project was at the center of an active debate during last week’s parliamentary inspection of the ministry.
“Incheon is a remarkable development model today because of the Incheon International Airport,” Rep. Lee Jae-sun of the minor opposition Liberal Forward Party said, urging the government to give more policy consideration to North Jeolla’s transportation shortcomings.
First initiated in 1991, the landfill project will ultimately give Korea an additional 401 square kilometers of land, equal to two-thirds of the total area of Seoul. At first, the government had designated most of the area as an additional farming space.
The centerpiece of the monumental project is the Saemangeum Seawall, a 33-kilometer barrage in the West Sea connecting Gunsan (270 kilometers southwest of Seoul) with the other major North Jeolla cities of Gimje, Buan and Iksan. The Seawall will open to tourists in April 2010.