Suwon Stuck in Place for 9 Years While Gwangju Military Airport Relocation Moves Fast

Muan-gun's Mangun-myeon area in South Jeolla Province has been selected as the relocation site for Gwangju Military Airport. This comes just four months after the area was designated as a preliminary relocation candidate. Meanwhile, Suwon Military Airport's relocation project has remained at the same stage for nine years since the preliminary relocation candidate was selected in 2017.

The Ministry of Defense's Military Airport Relocation Site Selection Committee on the 28th selected the Mangun-myeon area of Muan-gun as the relocation site for Gwangju Military Airport. After the Muan-gun County Governor expressed conditional consent, the social consensus requirement necessary for the relocation site selection was met.

The Gwangju Military Airport relocation project gained momentum last December when the Presidential Office led the formation of a six-party consultative body involving Gwangju City, South Jeolla Province, Muan-gun, the Ministry of Planning and Finance, the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The decision to use the Gwangju Military Airport site as a location for the Honam region semiconductor cluster also served as a driving force for the project.

The Suwon Military Airport relocation project began earlier than Gwangju's.

Suwon City submitted a military airport relocation proposal to the Ministry of Defense in March 2014. Gwangju City submitted its relocation proposal in October of the same year, about seven months later.

The Ministry of Defense approved the Suwon Military Airport relocation proposal in 2015 and selected Hwaseong's Hwawong District as the preliminary relocation candidate site in February 2017.

However, as Hwaseong City requested withdrawal of the candidate site designation and a re-examination of the project from the beginning, subsequent procedures such as relocation candidate site selection, support plan establishment, resident referendum, and application to attract the project have not proceeded.

Muan-gun's Mangun-myeon rose to the status of relocation candidate site through the Muan-gun County Governor's conditional consent, contingent on regional support, but Hwaseong City continues to oppose the relocation to Hwawong District. The different positions of the local government heads targeted for relocation divided the progress stages of the two projects.

Differences also emerged in the status and implementation power of government coordination bodies.

In the case of Gwangju Military Airport, President Lee Jae-myung publicly ordered the resolution of the problem, and the Presidential Office led the six-party consultative process, marking a turning point. The consultative body coordinated relocation area support, civilian airport integration relocation, and national industrial complex development measures to secure the Muan-gun County Governor's conditional consent.

A Military Airport Relocation Task Force under the Presidential Staff was also operating for the Suwon Military Airport relocation project. However, it was not elevated to the stage where the President directly orders resolution or the Presidential Office leads negotiations among stakeholders. The task force also failed to develop support measures and coordination plans to resolve Hwaseong City's opposition.

The Suwon Military Airport relocation and former base development plans have been pursued since the 2000s.

Former National Assembly Member Kim Jin-pyo presented a plan in 2007 to develop a cutting-edge information technology complex on the 8.9 million square meter site to be secured through the relocation of Suwon Airfield. The vision was to create a Korean-style Silicon Valley with an area of approximately 20 million square meters by connecting nearby digital and bio industry hubs.

To this end, Former Member Kim sponsored the introduction of the 'Special Act on Military Airport Relocation and Support,' which was enacted in 2013. Subsequently, Yeom Tae-young, then Suwon Mayor, and Democratic Party lawmakers from the region made Suwon Military Airport relocation a core campaign pledge in every election, but the Suwon Military Airport relocation project has not proceeded to the next stage, which is relocation site selection, since the preliminary relocation candidate selection in 2017.

In contrast, Gwangju has confirmed a national project to develop a Honam region semiconductor cluster on the site of the former military airport, and the military airport relocation is now being treated as a prerequisite task in national advanced industry policy.

The 'Civic Consultative Council for Suwon Military Airport Relocation and Gyeonggi Integrated International Airport Promotion' is conducting an online petition campaign demanding the prompt advancement of military airport relocation and Gyeonggi Southern International Airport construction.

A council official said regarding the Gwangju Military Airport relocation site selection, "I believe the President's will is important," and added, "If a presidential town hall meeting is held in southern Gyeonggi, we plan to attend and strongly request the Suwon Military Airport relocation."

Suwon City maintains the position that military airport relocation should be pursued as a national strategic project rather than an issue among local governments.

Similar to Gwangju, the policy is to request that the government have the Presidential Office and related ministries directly participate to coordinate regional conflicts and flesh out support measures for the relocation area.

A Suwon City official stated, "We evaluate it positively that a relocation site was ultimately selected despite opposition from the area designated as the preliminary relocation candidate site," and added, "We plan to request the government to establish a national-led consultative body for the Suwon Military Airport case as well to pursue the project."