Gov't to move forward study on new airport

The government will conduct a study on the construction of a new international airport in the country next year, officials said Sunday, amid growing political controversy over it ahead of the December presidential election.

The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said the survey on the construction of a new international airport and expansion of existing airports will be carried out in 2013, a year ahead of schedule.

A ministry plan, announced in January last year, calls for the government to conduct the study in 2014, but the ministry said it has decided to move the schedule forward due to a growing need for fast-tracking it.

"The government should begin a study as soon as possible, given the time needed to construct a new airport or expand existing ones," a ministry official said.

According to the ministry, it will take at least one year to conduct a study and seven to eight years will be needed to build or enlarge an airport.

The ministry move comes as presidential hopefuls from the ruling and opposition parties have pledged to construct a new international airport in a bid to win the hearts and minds of voters ahead of the Dec. 19 presidential election.

In late March 2011, the government scrapped its plan to build a new international airport in the nation's southeast region amid bitter rivalry between residents from two candidate sites.

At that time, the government said the two sites -- Miryang, a city 386 kilometers southeast of Seoul, and Gadeok Island close to the country's largest port city of Busan -- failed to meet the requirements for economic and environmental feasibility.

Residents and politicians from the two regions had competed fiercely for the project, believing it would bring the regions huge economic benefits. (Yonhap)