What’s the difference anyway?

Koh Hyun-kohn
The author is the executive editor of the JoongAng Ilbo.

It was former President Roh Moo-hyun who first put forward the idea of building another airport in the southeastern coast in 2006. Lee Myung-bak, running as presidential candidate of the opposition the following year, used it as a campaign pledge, but canceled the construction project in 2011. President Park Geun-hye, his successor from the same party, revisited the idea and reviewed three candidate locations in 2016. Gadeok, an island off Busan, was the last on the list. Aeroports de Paris (ADP) Airport Master Planning assigned with the feasibility study gave the idea of extending the existing Gimhae International Airport the highest score at 818; building a new one in Miryang, 665; and in Gadeok, 635. Jean-Marie Chevallier, the senior researcher heading the study, found Gadeok the least favorable site to house an airport as the island is located at the southernmost region and deemed uneconomical due to inaccessibility and extra construction costs.

President Moon Jae-in disapproved of the idea of enlarging Gimhae Airport and pitched Gadeok instead for the new airport location in 2021 ahead of the by-election to pick new Busan mayor. He made sure his choice saw daylight by having the ruling party pass a special bill exempting the airport construction project from a preliminary feasibility study mandatory for multibillion-won state-invested infrastructure construction. The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) willingly agreed to the plan as it could not afford to lose votes. The airport’s exemption from the feasibility study left a bad precedent. A special bill was passed last week to exempt a feasibility study on the proposal to build a railway between Gwangju and Daegu.

In March last year, the Yoon Suk Yeol government advanced the construction period to 2029 — five years and six months earlier — to have the airport ready by 2030, the year when the government wanted to host Busan World Expo. Nobody questioned how an airport could be completed so soon. The original idea was to build an offshore airport with floating runways, but the plan changed to accommodate the airport across land and sea.

Safety questions are most concerning. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport opposed the special bill because the new airport airspace would overlap with Jinhae Airport and complicate air traffic control for Gimhae International Airport. It also pointed out that the area is vulnerable to typhoons. It worried the airport might not be able to cope with emergency situations with just one runway and could experience unevenly-sinking ground. Experts involved in the preliminary study in 2022 pointed to the possibility of the runway section in the sea sinking more than the strip over the land.

Complexities of building an airport on an island also demand much greater costs. Enlarging Gimhae Airport was estimated to cost 4.7 trillion won ($3.5 billion). The Gadeok project demands triple: 13.5 trillion won. Adding another runway would call for another 7 trillion won. The budget excludes the cost of building roads, airport connecting subways and a terminal for ferry passengers.

The benefit to Busan is also questionable. Gadeok is located farther than Gimhae from Busan. One runway cannot accommodate local flights. Gadeok would therefore serve international flights and Gimhae local routes. In the process, Busan citizens would benefit little from the new airport, as the project may just enrich landowners and business establishments in Gadeok.

Former President Moon Jae-in, left, inspects the area on Gadeok Island that was designated as the site for an international airport, on Feb. 25, 2021.

The government may be aware of the situation, but it chooses to look the other way. The Gadeok project is ready to take off. The basic plan was announced late last year with this year’s budget earmarked at over 500 billion won. Government officials may not be summoned to the prosecution over negligence of duty over Gadeok as both the conservative and liberal governments are liable for making the wrong choice. Politicians on each side only count votes. They turn a blind eye to the problems and only show rosy prospects to the residents. Former president Moon Jae-in was most eager. Looking over Gadeok Island ahead of the 2021 Busan mayoral by-election, he said his heart pounded when he envisioned a new airport in the city.

President Yoon is no better. He visited Busan in December, a week after the city lost the bid for the 2030 World Expo. He promised that all the Expo-related constructions would be executed in greater perfection. He is sticking to the early opening plan in order to appease Busan citizens who are disappointed by the Expo loss.

It is common sense to pay more attention to safety and cost now that there is no need to hasten with the airport plan. Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung is not helping. He criticized the conservative government for trying to demeanthe Gadeok project to a local airport scale. Younger politicians also cannot be relied on. Lee Jun-seok, while head of the PPP, in July 2021 boasted that the conservative party had been more eager to pass the special law on Gadeok. PPP interim leader Han Dong-hoon during his recent visit to Busan promised that the airport would open early as planned. The younger politicians promising to be different are singing the same tune. Nowhere from the left or right — old or new — can we find political leaders who address tax money as their own and put national interests before theirs.