[News Spot] Over 30 Years of Fluctuations with Regimes... The Tears of 'Saemangeum'

Construction Halted and Plans Changed Multiple Times Since 1991 Groundbreaking
Continuous Corporate Investment Attraction After Yoon Administration Launch
Budget Cuts and Basic Plan Reestablishment Ordered Following Jamboree Failure

The Saemangeum development project, the largest reclamation project in South Korea, is once again facing a crisis. Following the disruption of the World Scout Jamboree, the government decided to completely revise the Master Plan (MP) for the development of the Saemangeum reclaimed land, making the ongoing project as well as the original development schedule uncertain.

The Saemangeum development project originated in the early 1970s when the government established the 'Okseo District Agricultural Development Plan' to overcome the global food crisis. In 1987, to expand food self-sufficiency, the government announced the 'Saemangeum Reclamation Comprehensive Development Project,' creating a new freshwater lake and reclaiming 41,000 hectares?140 times the size of Yeouido in Seoul?and broke ground in November 1991. The name 'Saemangeum' was derived from Geumman (金萬) in the Gimje Mankyung Plain, a granary region in Jeonbuk Province.

The reclamation project, expected to be completed by 2004, encountered several challenges. First, questions arose about whether it was appropriate to convert all reclaimed land into agricultural land due to changes in food demand, such as a sharp decline in rice consumption. Environmental groups strongly opposed the project because it involved filling in tidal flats, which are rich in biodiversity. In August 2001, during the Kim Dae-jung administration, a lawsuit was filed requesting the suspension of the project, leading to a halt in large-scale construction.

In March 2006, under the Roh Moo-hyun administration, the Supreme Court ruled that the Saemangeum reclamation was in the public interest. In 2010, the world's longest seawall, 33.9 km long, was constructed connecting Gunsan in Jeonbuk to Buan, and construction resumed. Discussions on how to utilize the reclaimed land intensified. In 2007, the land use plan was changed to 72% agricultural land and 28% non-agricultural land. In 2008, the basic plan for internal land development was revised again, drastically reducing agricultural land to 30% and allocating the rest for industrial, tourism, and energy purposes. The same year, the 'Special Act on Promotion of Saemangeum Project' was enacted, and the Saemangeum Committee under the Prime Minister was established to lead the government-driven project. In 2011, the Saemangeum Master Plan, encompassing the entire project, was finalized, further specifying the development direction. As the project scale grew, the timeline was extended significantly, with a phased roadmap planned through 2050 to build infrastructure such as roads and ports.

Satellite image of the Saemangeum area in November 2020. [Photo by Jeollabuk-do] [Image source=Yonhap News]

In 2013, when the Park Geun-hye administration took office, the Saemangeum Development Agency was established to oversee the development, which had been divided among various ministries. The following year, the Master Plan was revised with a focus on creating a global economic cooperation and free trade hub. In August 2017, during the Moon Jae-in administration, Saemangeum was confirmed as the host site for the World Jamboree, and the reclamation and utilization plans for the Jamboree site were included in the Master Plan. In 2018, the Saemangeum Development Corporation was established to handle urban development, land sales, and financing in accordance with the revised Master Plan.

After President Yoon Suk-yeol visited Saemangeum as a presidential candidate and promised to "make it a place bustling with companies," large-scale private investments followed. In about one year since the Yoon administration began, investments totaling 6.6 trillion won were made in the Saemangeum National Industrial Complex. Thanks to deregulation through designation as an investment promotion zone and rapid infrastructure development, corporate investments continued, and the area was also designated as a specialized secondary battery cluster, positioning it to become a future industrial hub.

However, the World Jamboree held from the 1st to the 12th of this month faced disruptions, changing the atmosphere around Saemangeum development within the government and political circles once again. The appropriateness of social overhead capital (SOC), such as the international airport scheduled for construction, came under scrutiny, and government budget proposals saw a drastic cut of over 70% in Saemangeum-related funding.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo recently instructed the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Saemangeum Development Agency to rewrite the Master Plan to set clear goals for Saemangeum. While the government cautions against overinterpretation, stating that the plan revision is not to assign blame for the Jamboree disruption, the ruling party criticizes that "Jeollabuk-do used the Jamboree to secure budgets and push forward the Saemangeum project."