A bird's eye view image of the proposed airport on Gadeok Island [Courtesy of Busan Metropolitan City Office]
South Korea on Tuesday scrapped a controversial multi-billion-dollar state project to build a new gateway airport as a tense standoff intensified at the traditional political base of President Park Geun-hye.
Instead of building a second airport in South Gyeongsang Province, the government promised to expand the existing airport in Gimhae near the southern port city of Busan.
Busan and Miryang have competed to host the new airport. Miryang is located some 47 kilometers (32 miles) northwest of Busan.
The project was one of Park's campaign pledges to ease a traffic congestion at the Gimhae airport crowded with travelers, many from China and other Asian countries. The number of passengers using Gimhae has soared from 7.07 million in 2006 to 12.38 million in 2015.
The rivalry has intensified since ADPi, a French company specializing in airport architecture and engineering, was chosen to conduct a feasibility study in June last year. Busan citizens have rallied claiming a nearby island is better suited for the new airport.
Park's office, mindful of a political backlash ahead of next year's presidential election, has been cautious, vowing to respect the results of the feasibility study without any political considerations.
On Tuesday, ADPi described both the island in Busan and Miryang were not suited for the new airport, recommending an expansion of Gimhae. Busan mayor Suh Byung-soo accused the government of making "a political decision" to avoid a political backlash and said the Gimhae airport has a safety problem because of frequent fogs.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
