Yangpyeong County Council Adopts Resolution Opposing Reduction of Han River Watershed Fund Resident Support Project Budget

Yangpyeong County Council Condemns Unilateral Cut of Resident Support Funds from Han River Watershed Fund

The Yangpyeong County Council in Gyeonggi Province (Chairman Hwang Seon-ho) announced on the 10th that it held the 2nd plenary session of the 2nd regular meeting of the 306th session on the 6th and unanimously adopted the “Resolution Opposing the Reduction of Han River Watershed Fund Resident Support Project Expenses.”

Yangpyeong County Council held the 2nd plenary session of the 2nd regular meeting of the 306th session on the 6th, unanimously adopting the "Resolution Opposing the Reduction of Resident Support Project Funds from the Han River Basin Fund" and then held a protest rally. Photo by Yangpyeong County Council

The resolution adopted that day was proposed by all council members, with Councilor Song Jin-wook as the representative, protesting the unilateral cut of the 2025 resident support project expenses decided by the Han River Watershed Management Committee by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and urged for an increase in the resident support project expenses and the abolition of various overlapping regulations.

The Han River Watershed Fund is a special purpose tax intended as compensation for the damage and sacrifices borne by seven local governments (Yangpyeong-gun, Namyangju-si, Yongin-si, Icheon-si, Gwangju-si, Yeoju-si, Gapyeong-gun) in the Paldang water source management area to protect the water supply for residents of the metropolitan area. However, last September, the Ministry of Economy and Finance unilaterally cut the budget without any consultation, citing poor execution performance as the reason.

Through the resolution, the Yangpyeong County Council expressed solidarity with the seven local governments in the Paldang water source management area and called for ▶ the realization and increase of the Han River Watershed Fund resident support project expenses as compensation ▶ the immediate abolition of various overlapping regulations that are devastating residents’ lives ▶ the repeal of the Han River Watershed Act, which contradicts the purpose of the legislation and causes numerous hardships.

The Yangpyeong County Council claimed, "In September, the Ministry of Economy and Finance unilaterally cut 7.3 billion KRW from the 2025 resident support project budget decided by the Han River Watershed Management Committee without any consultation with related local governments including Yangpyeong-gun."

Furthermore, the council stated, "The resident support project budget for next year, decided by the Han River Watershed Management Committee, was agreed upon by five cities and provinces including Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon, Gangwon, and Chungbuk, allocating 78.6 billion KRW as compensation for the approximately 2.8 million residents of seven upstream cities and counties in the Han River watershed?Yangpyeong-gun, Namyangju-si, Yongin-si, Icheon-si, Gwangju-si, Yeoju-si, and Gapyeong-gun. However, the Ministry of Economy and Finance ignored this agreement and the reality of the damage, and instead of providing appropriate and sufficient compensation, unilaterally cut the budget intended as compensation for residents’ damages due to restrictions on property rights, citing low execution performance as the reason," it added.

The resident support project expenses are operated under the “Act on Improvement of Water Quality and Resident Support in the Han River Watershed,” and since the enactment of this law in 1999, they have served as minimal compensation for the excessive regulations imposed by designating areas near water sources as various regulatory zones to improve water quality in the Han River watershed.

Charging water usage fees to the final consumers who draw water from the Han River watershed follows the beneficiary-pays principle, and the resident support project expenses hold significant meaning as a special purpose tax that compensates residents in the damage-affected areas due to regulations in the Paldang upstream region.

The Yangpyeong County Council emphasized, "Most importantly, even 25 years after the enactment of the Han River Watershed Act, approximately 2.8 million residents of seven cities and counties, including about 130,000 residents of Yangpyeong-gun, are suffering severe damage. The overlapping regulations imposed solely to achieve first-class water quality in Paldang Lake, the drinking water source for 26 million metropolitan citizens, have devastated the lives of upstream residents day by day."

Not to mention regulations on the most basic property rights such as construction and land sales, residents are facing countless overlapping regulations including those on the entire industry. Due to the inability to properly secure basic environments such as schools and hospitals, according to the 2023 Gyeonggi Research Institute, Yangpyeong-gun has already been classified as a population extinction risk area, facing a serious situation.