Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
Airport construction falls prey to political interests
Lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, who represent Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province, hold a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul, Wednesday, calling for an introduction of a special bill to permit construction of a new airport on Gadeok Island in Busan. / Yonhap
By Kang Seung-woo
By Kang Seung-woo
The government's decision to end the Gimhae International Airport expansion plan is once again sparking criticism that political interests are again holding sway over a crucial state project.
Experts say major projects like this need to be approached with a broad understanding of their purpose, not from political considerations.
On Tuesday, a government review committee virtually scrapped the project, citing safety and environmental issues and a lack of thorough communication with the local government in the decision-making process.
After 10 years of postponements in picking an airport site for the southeastern part of the country, expanding Gimhae airport was decided on in 2016 based on a year-long feasibility study by the French company Aeroports de Paris Ingenierie (ADPi). The top alternative choice was building a new airport either on Gadeok Island in Busan or Miryang in North Gyeongsang Province.
The review committee was launched last December on the orders of President Moon Jae-in, who had promised to build a new airport in the southeastern region as one of his 2017 election campaign pledges.
The review results came five months ahead of the mayoral by-elections in Busan and Seoul, raising speculation that the government and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) are using the airport project to curry favor with voters in the country's second-largest city. In April, former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don, a DPK member, resigned following sexual harassment allegations.
Although Kim Soo-sam, the committee head, said the announcement did not mean the committee was leaning toward Gadeok Island as an alternative, the DPK is already moving forward with pushing the construction of a new airport there, with the party preparing to introduce a special bill for the plan.
In addition, lawmakers of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) representing Busan are also supportive of the airport project for Gadeok Island.
“So far, the new airport issue has been affected by political interests as well as regional egoism,” Hangil Research director and political analyst Hong Hyeong-sik said.
“Following the review committee's results, Gadeok Island is a potential site for the new southeastern airport.”
Hurr Hee-young, a professor at Korea Aerospace University, echoed Hong's view.
“How can a state project be swayed repeatedly by political interests? Such a recurrence can lead the public to lose confidence in government projects,” Hurr said.
“Ditching an existing plan and restarting a project from scratch takes a lot of time, with local residents falling victim to such malpractice.”
The professor also questioned the qualifications of the review committee's members.
“The results have quite a few ambiguous sentences. I wonder whether the committee was qualified to overturn the ADPi's results, given that some of its members have nothing to do with airport construction,” he said.
The Roh Moo-hyun administration first proposed building a new airport in the southeastern part of the country in 2006, something taken up by his successors Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye as respective presidential campaign pledges. However, they both put off the decision to avoid dividing party supporters in Busan and Daegu, both strongholds of the conservative bloc, with Daegu favoring airport construction in Miryang. In 2016, the Park administration came up with a tertiary plan, which suggested expanding Gimhae International Airport.