[팀장칼럼] President Wen will continue to promote Gaduk New Airport after the April election

Input 2021.02.26 11:30

President Moon Jae-in visited Busan on the 25th, 41 days before the 4⋅7 Busan mayoral by-election. The event was called’Report on the Strategy to Build a Megacity in the Southeast Region’ of Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam, but President Moon launched a fishing guidance boat in the sea near Gadeok Island. President Moon said, “My heart is racing” while looking around the new airport in the sea near Gadeokdo Island by boat, and when I got off the boat, he said, “ I hope for an early legislation.” After about 4 hours, the Gaduk Special Act passed the judiciary committee.

The president’s on-site visit to the area ahead of the election is bound to create controversy. The power of the people, Ho-young Joo, president of the House, said, “Election intervention” even when he broke the embargo during a visit to President Moon. When the Democratic Party was President Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye, once the president visited the field, it jumped out as “election intervention.”

In addition, the claim that the Democratic Party and President Moon are politically using the new airport on Gadeok Island is not a day or two old. President Moon promised to build a new airport in Gadeokdo Island as a pledge at the time of the 2012 presidential candidate. At the time of 2012, four attempts at Boo, Ul and Gyeong (PK) and Daegu and Gyeongbuk (TK) were in sharp confrontation over the new airport issue.

The presidential candidate Moon said, “If the North Pole route opens, the proportion of Busan Port will increase, and if the railroad is open to continental Europe, land, sea, and air will find the route and Busan will take a leap again.” However, at that time, while claiming a new airport in the southeastern region, he did not nail Gadeokdo.

President Moon pulled out the new airport on Gadeokdo Island during the 2016 general election. President Moon said, “If only five candidates for the Democratic Party are selected in Busan, the construction of the new airport on Gadeokdo Island will begin within two years.” At that time, exactly five Democratic Party candidates were elected from 13 districts in Busan. Five years later, the new airport has not started construction. In the 21st general election last year, the Democratic Party-elect in Busan shrunk to three.

President Moon did not mention Gadeokdo in the 2017 presidential election. It was probably because it was difficult to mention this since the Park Geun-hye administration announced the new airport blanking in June 2016. However, President Moon visited Busan in February 2019, one year ahead of the 21st general election (April 15, 2020) and discussed the revalidation of the location of the new airport in the southeastern region. With this remark, it was interpreted by politics that President Moon gave power to the mayor of Busan at the time. Mayor Oh was elected by promoting the’Gadeok New Airport’ as a pledge for the 6·13 local election.

The Democratic Party and President Moon also brought up Gadeokdo Island again in this election, which was held for sexual harassment by Mayor Oh. As a result of not going through proper procedures and focusing only on political use, a strange law was created saying that’Gadeok New Airport can be exempted from a preliminary feasibility study if necessary.’

All government ministries, including the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the Ministry of Justice have voiced opposition to this law, but the Democratic Party is poised to pass the law, saying, “If the parliament makes a law, the government must follow it,” with 180 seats ahead. An official from the Democratic Party said to a reporter’s question about the conformity of the law, “It is meaningful to specify’Gadeokdo’ in the Southeast Area New Airport that has been talked about.”

It is said that a maximum budget of 28 trillion won is required for the Gadeok New Airport project. For the construction of the runway of the new airport, the offshore coast of Busan has to be filled for six years, and the nearby mountains have to be cut. The water depth around Gadeokdo Island is up to 21m. There is also a safety problem that the runway breaks or floods when both landfill grounds sink.

It is not the Democratic Party, but the public opinion of the world believes that the Gaduk New Airport Special Act is for the Busan Mayor’s by-election in April. However, Gadeok New Airport is not just a project to be pushed for election purposes. Members of the National Assembly’s National Territorial Committee said, “Because the public sentiment of Busan wants a new airport in Gadeokdo Island,” the reason for the’exemption exemption’ clause in the Gadeok New Airport Special Act.

On the contrary, at this point, we have no choice but to question the relationship between Busan’s public sentiment and Gadeokdo New Airport. The results of public opinion polls show that the preliminary candidate Park Hyung-jun, the power of the people in the suitability survey for the Busan mayor, is running out of the margin of error by about 10 percentage points (P) compared to the preliminary candidate Kim Young-chun of the Democratic Party. See committee).

Ask the Democratic Party and President Moon. If the Democratic Party candidate does not win in the coming April election, will it be judged that the public sentiment of Gadeok in Busan has turned? Also, will the Special Law on Gaduk continue to be promoted after that? Even after investing tens of trillion won, we must answer whether it is a pledge that President Moon can promise for the Gadeok New Airport project, which is full of doubts about whether the business will be secured.