Jindo Restoration Opposition Committee Imminently to File Criminal Complaints with Board of Audit and Inspection, Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and Iksan Office

"End the Exhaustive Debate Between the State and Local Governments... Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Should Accept the Decision of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission"

About 300 people from Jindo Gumni are holding a rally on the 23rd at Cheolma Park in Jindo-eup, demanding the suspension of the recovery of national subsidy funds. (Photo by Jindo-gun)

[Jindo＝Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Hyun] About 300 residents of Jindo County gathered at Cheolma Park in Jindo-eup on the 23rd, stating, “The Iksan Regional Land Management Office must comply with the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission’s decision to cancel the subsidy recovery measure,” and “The central government agencies involved, including the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, made a serious mistake by misjudging the route.”

Since March 2015, when passenger ferry operations were suspended due to deficits of the ferry company, residents of Gasado have faced significant threats to their right to livelihood and pursuit of happiness, as they had to risk danger by using outboard motorboats (fishing boats) to travel to the mainland in emergencies for three years, experiencing difficulties in purchasing daily necessities, transporting emergency patients, and shipping agricultural products and seaweed.

To alleviate residents’ inconveniences, Jindo County has been operating a multipurpose vessel constructed with island development project funds allocated for water supply vessels since December 2018 as part of proactive administration.

However, although the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport unilaterally disapproved the project without properly recognizing related laws on national subsidized routes and general routes or consulting the competent central ministry (Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries), the Board of Audit and Inspection notified that Jindo County’s Gasado ferry construction project was inappropriate, leading the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (Iksan Office) to impose a national subsidy recovery order on Jindo County.

In response, the Anti-Subsidy Recovery Countermeasure Committee (including Gasado residents) filed a complaint with the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, which, after an on-site investigation, recommended in December last year that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport suspend the subsidy recovery procedure.

The investigation concluded that “the construction of the multipurpose vessel was unavoidable for residents’ livelihood maintenance and safety, and it is difficult to consider that the subsidy was used for completely different purposes.”

It also pointed out that “if the Minister of the Interior and Safety had processed the matter after consulting the Mokpo Regional Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Office Chief, who is responsible for licensing maritime passenger transport businesses and route notifications, approval for changes to the comprehensive island development plan would have been sufficiently possible.”

Jindo residents plan to continue filing complaints with related agencies and holding ongoing rallies until the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport accepts the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission’s recommendation.

Park Jeong-geun, Chairperson of the Anti-Subsidy Recovery Countermeasure Committee, stated, “Although Jindo County constructed a multipurpose vessel traveling to Gasado with water supply vessel funds and received a subsidy recovery order from the Iksan Office, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission unanimously recommended suspending the recovery,” and demanded, “Accept the recommendation of the government agency, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission.”

Additionally, the Chairperson proposed during the Prime Minister’s visit to Jindo on the 19th that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (Iksan Office) immediately accept the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission’s decision regarding the Gasado ferry and review canceling the national subsidy recovery order.