Coast Guard returning to Incheon

By Kang Seung-woo

The headquarters of the Korea Coast Guard (KCG) will be relocated to Incheon by November.

According to the KCG, a Cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon approved the relocation cost of 11.5 billion won ($10.7 million), Monday, clearing the way for the Coast Guard to resettle in Songdo after four years.

Its relocation to the port city, west of Seoul, was one of President Moon Jae-in's campaign pledges.

The KGC, established in 1953 in Busan, moved to Incheon in 1979 before settling in Songdo in 2005.

However, due to its lackluster rescue operations during the April 2014 sinking of the ferry Sewol, then-President Park Geun-hye disbanded it. The maritime accident killed more than 300, most of them high school students on a field trip to Jeju Island.

Later, it served as an affiliated body of the newly created Ministry of Public Safety and Security and had to move to Sejong, the administrative capital located inland 120 kilometers south of Seoul. Currently, two police agencies are using the KCG's old headquarters.

After President Moon's election in May 2017, the KCG was newly launched as an independent external organization of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries in July of the same year, with the three-year-old safety ministry broken up.

Incheon and Busan as well Sejong were bidding to station the KCG.

The KCG chose Incheon as its new home, given that the city's surroundings are full of security and diplomatic factors, such as the Northern Limit Line (NLL) and illegal fishing by Chinese boats.

In that respect, it needs quick and smooth communications with the defense ministry, the unification ministry and the foreign ministry.

Plus, in the event of a large-scale maritime accident, the KGC will be able to provide a quick response as it has easy access to the ocean as well as Korea Aerospace University that can also help with rescue missions.

“The headquarters returning to Incheon means the complete resurrection of the KCG,” its official said.

“Through a speedy and stable resettlement, the KCG will try its best to meet public expectations.”

Park Kyung-min, a former ranking police official and former spokesman of the National Police Agency, has headed the maritime agency since July 2017.