Chungnam Seocheon 'Old Janghang Smelter', Restored from Abandoned Industrial Site to National Wetland

The former Janghang Smelter area, a closed industrial site in Seocheon, Chungnam, will be restored as a national wetland.

Chungnam Province announced on the 6th that the "Janghang National Wetland Restoration Project" passed the preliminary feasibility study at the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s 6th Fiscal Project Evaluation Committee.

Ahn Jae-su, Director of the Climate and Environment Bureau of Chungnam Province, held a press conference at Chungnam Provincial Office on the 6th to announce the future plans for the 'Janghang National Wetland Restoration' project. Photo by Chungnam Province

Following the feasibility approval, the Ministry of Environment will invest 68.5 billion KRW (entirely from the national budget) from next year until 2029 to carry out the first natural environment restoration project in the contaminated area around the former Janghang Smelter.

The Janghang National Wetland Restoration Project, a presidential regional pledge and a long-cherished project of the province’s residents, will create a 285,000㎡ wetland, a 229,000㎡ green area (including ecological forests), as well as wetland observation facilities and walking trails near the former Janghang Smelter.

The former Janghang Smelter was a facility built by the Japanese Government-General of Korea in 1936 and operated until 1945. From 1947 to 1971, it was directly managed by the government, then sold to the private sector in 1971, and finally closed in 1989.

However, even after its closure, the area around the former Janghang Smelter suffered from soil and crop contamination caused by substances discharged during the steelworks operation, leading to adverse effects such as a cluster of cancer cases among local residents.

In response, the government established the "Comprehensive Plan for Soil Pollution Improvement of the Former Janghang Smelter" in 2009 and, led by the Ministry of Environment, carried out land acquisition and cleanup projects around the site until 2020.

Since 2019, Chungnam Province and Seocheon County have been developing land use plans for the cleaned-up acquired land and have continuously requested cooperation from the Ministry of Environment.

As a result, in 2021, the Ministry of Environment promised to prepare and promote plans for utilizing the cleaned-up land in Janghang, and based on this, last year Chungnam Province, the Ministry of Environment, and Seocheon County finalized the "Janghang National Wetland Restoration Project" plan, laying the foundation for the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s feasibility approval.

Chungnam Province expects that once the project is completed, it will secure a new growth engine for the area near the former Janghang Smelter.

Ahn Jae-su, Director of the Climate and Environment Bureau of Chungnam Province, said, “Together with Seocheon County, we will focus on enhancing wetland functions and complementing tourism functions to improve the completeness of the Janghang National Wetland Restoration Project.” He added, “Through this, the former Janghang Smelter area will become a representative model of transforming closed industrial spaces in Korea into eco-friendly spaces.”