21. Disputes over new airport in Korea

Sangcheol's Diary Podcast_상철의 일기

Today is June 19, 2016. Sunday. There will be an announcement over new airpot construction location next week in Korea. New airport will be built on one of the two cities, Milyang or Kadeokdo, which was located on the southern part of Korea. This issue has been dragged over 10 years and there was no end of regional troubles between the two cities. However, whatever city is chosen next week, it must bring discontent from one of the two cities and is expected that the aftermath of the decision will hit the nation. From the standpoint of me, there are two things over this matter. First, it will cost a lot of money to build a new airpot so that it must be based on the economical feasibility. The money which will be used to build a new airport is tax from people, not the private money to be used thoughtlessly. Due to the economic considerations, this issue was turned down by preivious govenment but current government pushed forward this project for the last four years. Second, there is lack of national consensus on this matter. I have never seen this issue was disputed at the national assembly session or any public hearing. To hold a public meeting to collect opinions from the related local regidents is important procedure before any big governmental project being carried forward. In conclusion, I think that this issue has problems with economical efficiency and non-transparent procedure.