Hwaseong City Boils Over as 'Suwon Military Airport Relocation Bill' Reintroduced

Hwaseong City, Political Circles, and Civic Groups: "Unilateral Relocation Push Is Regional Egoism"

The community in Hwaseong is boiling over the political push to reintroduce the Suwon Military Airport Relocation Act. The political circles of Hwaseong City, a prime relocation candidate, along with the city government and civic groups, are opposing and urging the withdrawal of the bill.

On the 26th, Hwaseong Mayor Jeong Myeong-geun stated in a press release, "The 'Special Act for the Relocation of Suwon Military Airport and the Construction of Gyeonggi Southern Integrated International Airport' is an attempt to push the project forward without sufficient consultation and consent from Hwaseong City and its citizens, riding on the notion of special law omnipotence," and demanded, "Withdraw this special act that infringes on local government autonomy and citizens' participation rights."

Mayor Jeong's opposition is a criticism of Baek Hye-ryeon, a Democratic Party lawmaker representing Suwon-eul, who introduced the related bill as the first bill in the 22nd National Assembly. Previously, this bill was introduced by former National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo but was automatically discarded at the end of the 21st National Assembly. As the 22nd National Assembly convened, the Suwon political circles have strongly pushed for its reintroduction.

Hwaseong City, in coordination with civic groups such as the Citizens' Countermeasure Committee Against the Relocation of Suwon Combat Airfield to Hwaseong, is holding an emergency civil-government meeting and is planning a roundtable discussion with local lawmakers to discuss specific countermeasures.

Lee Sang-hwan, the standing committee chairman of the countermeasure committee, said, "The recently submitted bill only removed the clause specifying the military airport relocation site as 'Hwaseong City area,' but it is no different from former Speaker Kim's special act," and criticized it as "a trick to tie the hands of Hwaseong City and civic groups to neutralize their response and a 'law that promotes regional conflict.'"

Song Ok-ju, a lawmaker from the same party representing Hwaseong-gap, recently introduced an amendment to counteract the weakening of the Suwon Military Airport relocation. Song's amendment specifies 'agreement' instead of 'consultation,' as there is a high possibility of unilateral and biased project promotion without consensus or agreement between the Ministry of National Defense and related local governments. This is to prevent the head of the central administrative agency from unilaterally deciding on the military airport relocation.

Meanwhile, the countermeasure committee plans to hold a rally in front of the National Assembly to demand the withdrawal of the special act and block its legislation. Additionally, the committee plans to submit petitions and signature lists opposing the relocation of Suwon Military Airport to Hwaseong through visits and meetings with members of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee.