Jeong Su-jin, who led campaign against incinerator project, posts statement

Council member Jeong Su-jin reaches toward the speaker's gavel while Suncheon City Council Speaker Yu Yeong-cheol presides over a session on July 2. [Screen capture from Yeosu MBC]
Council member Jeong Su-jin reaches toward the speaker's gavel while Suncheon City Council Speaker Yu Yeong-cheol presides over a session on July 2. [Screen capture from Yeosu MBC]

Jeong Su-jin, a first-term Suncheon City Council member and former teacher, has issued a formal apology after grabbing the speaker's gavel and storming out of the chamber during the council's first session following the June 3 local elections, in a protest over her committee assignment.

Jeong, who had led opposition to a next-generation waste incineration facility the city is pursuing in the Yeonhyang District 3 area, walked out of the second plenary session of the 296th extraordinary session on July 2 after she was not assigned to the Urban Construction Committee, her preferred post.

In her apology posted Thursday, Jeong said she was "sincerely sorry and deeply troubled" for causing concern and disappointment among residents. "I am truly sorry for walking out of the extraordinary session chamber with the gavel on July 2," she said.

Jeong said she had been excluded from the Urban Construction Committee on the grounds that she was a "direct interested party" in the incinerator issue. "Being deemed an interested party because of my participation in a public-interest activity is not just my personal problem — it is a denigration of the civic efforts of the citizens who stood alongside me, and I believe it will set a wrong precedent for the city council," she said.

She added that she had requested a recess before the committee assignments were finalized, believing sufficient debate and legal review were needed on whether she truly qualified as a direct interested party, but the request was not accepted. "To my sunbae and colleagues in the council — I will humbly reflect on my shortcomings," she said, "but I ask you to stand up for the truth so that the sincerity of the citizens who have walked with us for Suncheon's future is not distorted."

Jeong also explained how she came to join the campaign against the incinerator.

"Around August 2023, I noticed a banner reading 'Residents in favor of the waste incinerator — all tenants' hanging in the apartment complex where I live," she said. "When I looked into it, I was shocked to find that someone from another neighborhood had secretly put it up at 3 a.m."

Jeong pushed back against the characterization of her as a self-interested party. "Looking at cases in other cities, Mokpo was pursuing an incinerator for 90 billion won, while Suncheon is pushing ahead with one costing 300 billion won ($202 million) — and as a private investment project at that," she said. "Seeing that, I made up my mind that I could no longer stay silent for the sake of Suncheon's future. I went through such a difficult time that moving away would have been the easier choice. How can that possibly be seen as acting out of personal interest?"

Council Speaker Yu Yeong-cheol had overridden Jeong's first-choice request for the Urban Construction Committee, ruling that she constituted a "private interested party" and assigning her instead to the Culture and Economy Committee. Jeong had strongly objected to the decision.

"I have held on until now with the sole conviction that I must protect Suncheon, but the process of setting things right and revealing the truth has been an incredibly difficult one," Jeong said. "Going forward, as a representative of the people, I will respect the law and principles and do my utmost solely for the citizens and the future of Suncheon."

Jeong entered the council on the recommendation of Rep. Kim Moon-su of the Suncheon-gap constituency. She graduated from the College of Education at Suncheon National University with a degree in mathematics education and has worked as a contract math teacher.


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