Jeju governor calls for suspension of naval base construction

By Yun Suh-young

Woo Keun-min, governor of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, called for the suspension of construction of a naval base on the nation’s largest resort island, Monday, saying that the controversial project needs a further review.

At a joint press conference, Governor Woo, and two lawmakers from the Saenuri Party and the Democratic United Party announced in a statement that what was most important in resolving the naval base issue was conducting “a fair and objective inspection on the feasibility of docking a 150,000 ton cruise ship at the port.”

They said the Jeju government and Navy should jointly conduct the inspection which they said was necessary to remove skepticism involving the project.

“If the results of the inspection show that it is possible for a 150,000-ton cruise to enter and depart from the base and if there are no flaws in the inspection, we will ask the Gangjeong villagers to put the issue to a vote at a residents’ meeting,” said Woo.

He added that if the matter had been about the base being a military base until now, the issue now is whether it can be used as a commercial port.

The controversy over constructing a naval base in Jeju began in 2007 after the government decided to build a naval base at Gangjeong, a small fishing village on the island, for joint civilian/military use.

The government plans to finish the construction of a 480,000-square-meter base there by 2015.