Defense ministry yet to work out details of relocation plan for Gwangju military airport
Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back, right, speaks during a meeting of major commanders nationwide for the first half of the year at the defense ministry in Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap
The defense ministry said Monday it has yet to finalize a detailed plan to relocate a military airport in the southwestern city of Gwangju, after the airfield was selected as the site for a semiconductor production cluster.
Earlier in the day, the government picked the military airport in the city, some 270 kilometers south of Seoul, as the site for a planned semiconductor manufacturing cluster under its "three mega projects" initiative.
"We will closely cooperate with the Air Force to ensure there is no gap in the military's readiness posture while aligning with the government's policy," a defense ministry official said.
The military airport is home to an Air Force base that provides advanced flight training for Air Force pilot trainees.
The government has selected the southwestern county of Muan as the preliminary candidate site for the relocation of the Gwangju military airport. But the county has called for a review of the relocation process, insisting three key conditions, including unprecedented incentives at the national level, must first be met.
Under the chip cluster project, Korea's leading chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK hynix announced plans to invest a combined 800 trillion won ($522 billion) in the southwestern Gwangju and Honam area.