Government Cancels Decision to Dismantle and Open Geumgang and Yeongsangang Weirs Made by Moon Administration

The five weirs (bo) on the Geumgang and Yeongsangang Rivers, created through the Four Major Rivers Project, will be maintained as they are.

The Presidential Commission on Water Management, under the Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, held a meeting at the Government Seoul Office on the 4th and announced that it reviewed and resolved to cancel the "Geumgang and Yeongsangang Weir Management Plan" that was approved by the Water Management Commission on January 18, 2021.

At that time, based on data submitted by the Ministry of Environment, the Water Management Commission decided to dismantle three weirs (Sejongbo, Juksanbo, Gongjubo) and keep two weirs (Baekjeboe, Seungchonbo) permanently open.

However, following a public audit conducted by the Board of Audit and Inspection in July last year, numerous unfair and unreasonable issues were pointed out in the process of preparing the weir management plan proposal. The Minister of Environment requested the Commission to reconsider the "weir management plan" approved in January 2021.

The Commission stated, "It has been confirmed that there were problems in the methodology and the composition of the Commission for decision-making in the past weir management plan, and thus the decision on the 'Geumgang and Yeongsangang Weir Management Plan' has been canceled."

On the afternoon of the 13th, the sluice gates of Baekjebbo in Buyeo-gun, Chungnam were opened to release water. The government expanded the monitoring targets for deciding the management plan of the Four Major Rivers' weirs from the existing 6 weirs to 14 weirs, and among them, 7 weirs began the procedure to gradually raise the water level to the maximum possible level on this day. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Specifically, the Ministry of Environment previously used methods with limitations in validity and reliability instead of scientific and rational methods due to the set deadline of national tasks, resulting in an unreasonable economic analysis of weir dismantling.

Also, when forming the committee to prepare the weir management plan, members should be selected fairly without bias toward any side. However, the Ministry of Environment mainly selected members recommended by specific organizations, leading to an unfair composition of the Four Major Rivers Investigation and Evaluation Planning Committee and the Expert Committee.

The decision on whether to dismantle the weirs should be pursued carefully and fairly based on scientific and rational analysis considering the social ripple effects and importance of the issue. However, the Commission judged that the past weir management plan decision did not meet these prerequisites.

If the decision to dismantle or permanently open the five weirs on the Geumgang and Yeongsangang Rivers were to remain as is, a contradiction would arise because this matter is included in the National Water Management Basic Plan, requiring the government to continue dismantling and permanently opening the weirs.

With the cancellation of the weir management plan, the related contents included in the 1st National Water Management Basic Plan (2021?2030) are also expected to be subsequently revised, and the Commission plans to hold a public hearing within this month.

Prime Minister Han said, "The Commission's decision to cancel the weir management plan has created an opportunity to utilize the Four Major Rivers weirs," and emphasized, "In the current climate crisis, future water management will proactively respond by mobilizing all available data, technology, and resources."

Bae Deok-hyo, the private sector co-chairman of the Water Management Commission, said, "This Commission resolution corrects the hasty decision to dismantle the weirs, which was based on a biased decision-making system and unscientific evidence in the past," adding, "Along with normalizing the operation of the Four Major Rivers weirs, we will fulfill our role in urgently preparing flood control measures including tributary and stream maintenance, and advancing flood prevention measures based on science and technology."