Newspaper leaves front page blank in airport plan protest

Headline reads “New airport plan scrapped, the government has abandoned us.”

By Lee Han-soo

A vernacular daily in Daegu left the front page of its Wednesday issue blank in an apparent protest against the government’s scrapping of a plan to build an international airport in the southeastern part of the nation.

This came a day after the government decided to expand the existing airport at Gimhae rather than build a new one at Gadeok Island in the southern port city of Busan or the inland town of Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province.

The Maeil newspaper has published stories supporting Miryang.

The Wednesday issue ran nothing but a small headline in the middle of the page: “New airport plan scrapped, the government has abandoned us.”

The daily wrote on its website: “The government abandoned plans to build a new airport in Gyeongsang Province on Tuesday, taking the yearning of the 10 million Gyeongsang residents alongside with it. We issued our Wednesday paper as a blank, taking into consideration the indignation of the Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province residents.

“The plan to build a new airport in Gyeongsang Province is not over. We cannot give up our dreams of becoming a prospering local government. Please support the Maeil newspaper that is leading the way to better Daegu and North Gyeonsang Province by making the new airport plan happen.”