A government ministerial meeting on the relocation of the Gwangju military airport is set to be held this month, with attention focused on whether the move to Muan International Airport — the leading candidate site — will gain momentum.
The Ministry of National Defense will hold the second meeting of the candidate site selection committee for the Gwangju military airport relocation on Tuesday.
The meeting will bring together relevant government ministries — including the Defense Ministry, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport — along with the integrated special city and Muan-gun, the local governments concerned, to discuss candidate site selection proposals.
Particular attention is on whether Muan-gun, designated a preliminary relocation candidate site in April, will be confirmed as the final candidate at this meeting.
Muan-gun has drawn local opposition after announcing it would reconsider accepting the military airport relocation unless three preconditions are met: the prior relocation of civilian airport operations, the revitalization of Muan International Airport, and the implementation of support measures for Muan-gun.
If Muan-gun is confirmed as the candidate site at Tuesday's meeting, the process will proceed through a series of steps before the relocation site is officially confirmed. Those steps include drawing up a support plan for the relocation area, review by a support committee, public announcement of the site selection plan, a resident vote and formal application, and a final review by the site selection committee.
The special city aims to finalize the relocation site this year to accelerate the airport move, which is intended to free up land for a semiconductor cluster.
However, the pace of negotiations over Muan-gun's demands — including regional development projects, infrastructure expansion and resident support measures — as well as opposition from Muan residents, are expected to be key variables.
"The preconditions Muan-gun is requesting are commitments the government has already made, so they can be fulfilled without any setbacks," a special city official said. "They will be discussed and decided during the process of drawing up the support plan once the relocation candidate site is confirmed."
sij@heraldcorp.com
