Power lines close to DMZ built secretly, legislator says

Korea Electric Power Corp. has completed construction of a stretch of power lines in northern Gyeonggi province, according to documents recently submitted by the corporation to the National Assembly.

The facilities, including a state-of-the-art power relay station close to the border with North Korea, are part of a project to supply electricity to the North, according to a corporation report dating to 2000.

Work to replace the relay station is about to get under way, the documents showed, at a budget of 12 billion won ($10 million).

The power line project started in July 1999 and, except for the relay station, was finished in December 2000 at a cost of 8.5 billion won. Separate power lines were laid for the 13.8 kilometer-stretch between the Munsan and Geumchon districts of Paju, which lies just south of the military demarcation line. The lines are separate from the existing lines that deliver power between Susaek in northern Seoul to Munsan.

Representative Cho Hee-wook of the United Liberal Democrats said the project is believed to be for the supply of power to the proposed industrial complex in Gaeseong, North Korea. "It is a serious problem," Mr. Cho said, "that the government undertook a very expensive project without consulting the National Assembly or the public."

The power corporation, saying that the project was conceived in 1994, well before the Gaeseong project was planned, said the primary purpose is to improve power supply to the Paju area.

by Kim Sung-tak