Gwangju City and Local National Assembly Members Begin Seeking Solutions for Military Airport Relocation

Risk of Reduced Role for Muan International Airport
Civil-Military Airport Relocation Accelerates with Unified Voice
Mayor Kang Demands "Adoption of Democratic Party Resolution"
Party-Level Military Airport Special Committee Formation Also Proposed

On the 6th, Gwangju City and local members of the National Assembly held the "Gwangju Military Airport Relocation Meeting" in the City Hall Business Room and jointly sought solutions.
[Photo by Gwangju City]

Gwangju City and local members of the National Assembly have come together to find solutions for the 'Civil-Military Integrated Airport Relocation.'

On the 6th, Gwangju City announced that it held the 'Gwangju Military Airport Relocation Gwangju Area National Assembly Members Meeting' at the City Hall Business Room, attended by local members of the National Assembly.

At the meeting, Mayor Kang Gi-jung, Democratic Party Gwangju City Party Chairman Yang Bu-nam, National Assembly members Park Gyun-taek, Jeong Jin-wook, An Do-geol, Jo In-cheol, Jeong Jun-ho, Jeon Jin-sook, Min Hyeong-bae, City Council Chairperson Shin Su-jeong, Gwangsan District Mayor Park Byung-gyu, Gwangsan District Council Chairperson Kim Myung-su, Seo District Council Chairperson Jeon Seung-il, and Gwangju Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Han Sang-won attended to discuss cooperation measures between Gwangju and Jeonnam regarding the civil-military integrated airport.

The meeting was held amid concerns that the status of Muan International Airport as the southwestern gateway airport might be shaken as the construction schedules of competing airports such as Daegu-Gyeongbuk Integrated Airport and Saemangeum Airport have recently become more concrete. In particular, there was a sense of crisis reflecting the view that if the plan to relocate the civil-military integrated airport to Muan is delayed beyond the end of this year, the relocation will effectively become impossible.

Before the meeting began, Mayor Kang Gi-jung explained the vision for the integrated new airport and new city development through the 'Muan Integrated Airport Diorama (scale model)' which contains the construction plan for Muan Integrated Airport.

Mayor Kang emphasized, “If two runways are built 1.9 km away from the current 800,000-pyeong Muan Airport, an airport exceeding 5 million pyeong in total will be completed. When such a large airport is established, an airport city will be created. We want to try this for regional economic development and the future.”

During the meeting, three key issues were intensively discussed: the donation-for-transfer business method, the appropriateness of the 1 trillion won scale support, and whether the civilian airport relocation should occur before the military airport relocation is confirmed.

Mayor Kang stated, “Proceeding with the project as a government financial support project rather than a donation-for-transfer method is a matter of legislative authority to be decided by the National Assembly or the government. We believe that the current donation-for-transfer method and the special law passed last year can cover the shortfall in the relocation.”

Mayor Kang also said, “I do not agree with relocating the civilian airport before the military airport relocation is confirmed. The agreement jointly announced with Jeonnam Province states that ‘if meaningful progress is made on the military airport relocation issue, the city and province will consult to relocate the Gwangju civilian airport to Muan International Airport in line with the opening of the KTX Phase 2.’ Proceeding in any other way would cause further controversy.”

Additionally, Mayor Kang requested that the issue of relocating the civil-military integrated airport be adopted as a party policy by the Democratic Party, to which the attending members responded positively.

There was also a suggestion to consider forming a special committee on military airport relocation at the party level to lead consultations among Gwangju City, Jeonnam Province, and Muan County regarding the military airport relocation.

Jeong Jeon-guk, head of the Military Airport Relocation Promotion Team, said, “We are doing our best to complete the civil-military integrated airport relocation issue within this year. Cooperation from the political sphere and civil society is essential.”

Gwangju City plans to hold 'Civil-Military Integrated Airport Relocation Project Resident Briefings' for residents of Gwangsan and Seo districts on the 9th and 12th to gather residents' opinions on resolving the military airport issue.