Standing Recognized for Plaintiffs
"Discretion Should Be Broadly Granted"
An environmental group filed a lawsuit seeking to cancel the national industrial complex plan for the Yongin Advanced System Semiconductor Cluster, but lost the case. The court found that the government's approval of the semiconductor cluster was legitimate.
According to the legal community on January 15, the Seoul Administrative Court's 14th Administrative Division (Presiding Judge Lee Sangdeok) ruled against the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by activists from the environmental group Climate Solution and 16 citizens against the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The lawsuit sought to nullify the approval of the 'Yongin Advanced System Semiconductor Cluster National Industrial Complex Plan' and other related actions.
The court acknowledged that the plaintiffs had standing to challenge the validity of the approval. However, the court determined that even if the climate change impact assessment was partially insufficient, it could not be considered as inadequate as not conducting the assessment at all. The court also found that the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport did not abuse or overstep discretionary authority.
Previously, in March of last year, Climate Solution and others filed a lawsuit claiming that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's approval of the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster project was unlawful. They argued that there were problems with the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions and reduction plans as stipulated by the Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality and other regulations.
The Yongin Semiconductor Cluster plan is a project to establish a 7.77 million square meter national industrial complex specializing in system semiconductors in the Namsa-eup area of Cheoin-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do. The plan was finalized in March 2023 under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.
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