New airport dispute reignites regional divisions

By Kim Bo-eun

The conflict over the selection of a site for a new airport in the country’s southeastern region is reaching a peak, with the government set to announce a decision next week.

Whichever region is selected, the backlash and protest from residents and vested interest groups in the region not chosen could be immense, officials said Thursday.

The two rival locations are Gadeok Island near the southern port city of Busan and the inland town of Miryang in South Gyeongsang Province. The new airport is needed as the region’s Gimhae International Airport has gone beyond full capacity.

Busan backs Gadeok while Daegu, Ulsan and the Gyeongsang provinces are backing Miryang.

An association of civic groups in Busan hosted a rally, Tuesday, with leaders shaving their heads vowing not to accept the result if Busan is not selected.

City councilors there, as well as ruling and opposition lawmakers based in the area, attended the rally ― eager to win votes by showing their support.

The association members say factors unfavorable for Miryang have been omitted in the feasibility study being conducted by ADPI, a French company. They say the study does not consider the number of high-rise apartment buildings and mountains, which can pose a risk to aircraft. Busan supporters claim the government omitted this factor to give an edge to Miryang, which is surrounded by mountains.

“The first qualification for the location of a new airport should be geographical features that let planes take off and land safely,” aerospace engineering professors from Pusan National University said at a press conference, Monday.

Government heads from Ulsan, Daegu and North and South Gyeongsang provinces denounced the moves by the Busan supporters, urging them to “stop irrational and extreme movements which jeopardize the building of a new airport in the country’s south.”

“The new airport should not be built for the interests of a particular region but for the long-term benefit of Korea,” said People’s Party lawmakers from Daegu in a statement issued Wednesday.

“The plan to build an airport in the southeast, which was revived with difficulty, could be scrapped again due to the irresponsible intervention of politicians and the rival regions aggravating conflict,” they said.

Such conflicts and criticisms are contrary to the earlier promise by the five local governments, who had pledged in January 2015 that they would not engage in rivalry and would accept the government’s decision based on feasibility studies by an expert foreign organization.

The new airport plan was first proposed in January 2011, but nullified in March the same year after the government concluded a new airport in either Miryang or Gadeok would damage the environment and be economically unfeasible.

But the plan was revived in 2012, with then presidential candidates pushing it as Gimhae International Airport had surpassed its capacity.

The number of international flights departing from Gimhae has risen, raising the likelihood that the airport will soon face a shortage of runway slots.

One of the other main reasons the plan was scrapped earlier was the enormous construction cost. The revised plan has reduced this by scaling down the size of the airport.