'If the route is shaken, Line 5 loses its meaning entirely'

Lee Ki-hyung calls attacks 'negative campaigning that ignores reality'

People Power Party Gimpo mayoral candidate Kim Byung-soo launches a walking campaign to defend the Line 5 extension in the final stretch of the election. [Provided by the Kim campaign]
People Power Party Gimpo mayoral candidate Kim Byung-soo launches a walking campaign to defend the Line 5 extension in the final stretch of the election. [Provided by the Kim campaign]

People Power Party Gimpo mayoral candidate Kim Byung-soo launched a walking campaign Tuesday to defend the Seoul Metro Line 5 Gimpo extension, one day before the June 3 local elections, doubling down on his opposition to any renegotiation of the route and calling for an early ground-breaking.

"Renegotiating the Line 5 route is absolutely out of the question," Kim said. "If the route is shaken, Line 5 loses its meaning entirely — and Gimpo residents' daily commute struggles and the city's future will both be delayed along with it."

He added that the project had been brought this far through years of effort and the long-held hopes of Gimpo residents. "Now is not the time to renegotiate the route," he said. "Now is the time to protect the confirmed alignment and push the ground-breaking procedure forward as quickly as possible."

Through the walking campaign, Kim plans to meet residents directly and explain his commitment to an early ground-breaking as well as the addition of three new stations within Gimpo — Pungmu 2, Gimpo Police Station and Tongjin. "Line 5 is not a subject for political experimentation or compromise," he said. "It is an urgent transit issue on which residents' lives depend."

Kim's camp took aim at Democratic Party of Korea candidate Lee Ki-hyung over remarks he made at a policy press briefing and in debates, in which Lee said, "A ground-breaking within my term would turn out to be a lie," and suggested the project would likely take "more than four years." The camp called the comments "in effect a declaration of surrender on an early ground-breaking" and warned that any renewed uncertainty over the route would delay both residents' commutes and the city's future.

The camp also criticized Lee for raising the possibility of "consultations with Incheon" over a route alignment already settled through the Metropolitan Area Transportation Committee's mediation. Kim's side called it "an attempt to bring back to the negotiating table a route that was finalized after an intense tug-of-war with Incheon," warning it could lead to project delays and route confusion.

"There is deep concern among residents about whether a newcomer unfamiliar with the history of this project can hold the line against Incheon and protect the current route to the end," the camp said.

Kim has consistently highlighted his role in steering the Line 5 Gimpo extension through its preliminary feasibility study and said he intends to move swiftly through the master planning, design and ground-breaking stages. "The person who started Line 5, who got it through the feasibility study, who has gone up against the government — that person must be the one to finish it," he said. "Kim Byung-soo is the only candidate who will protect Gimpo's Line 5 and break ground the fastest."

Lee's camp rebuffed the criticism, calling it "hollow negative campaigning that ignores reality."

"Insisting on a ground-breaking within the mayoral term, despite the minimum time required under railway administrative procedures, is nothing more than a deceptive promise that misleads residents," Lee's side said. It added that the Lee Jae Myung administration had proved its competence by passing the Line 5 feasibility study within nine months of taking office — a study the Yoon Suk Yeol government had ignored.

The camp also said that swiftly advancing Line 5 and achieving an early opening would require "a capable figure who can secure cooperation from related agencies including the Seoul and Incheon city governments, backed by the unified strength of the Democratic Party."


rimsclub@heraldcorp.com