"Give Us the Land, Come to Gijang" ... Busan Gijang-gun's Bold Proposal to Relocate 'WONANWI'

Gijang-gun Should Rightly Relocate to a City Hosting a Nuclear Power Plant
Offering Free Land and Administrative Support... "Kori Unit 1 Also Facing Decommissioning"

Gori Nuclear Power Plant Unit 1 in Gijang-gun, Busan. [Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] “We will provide land, so come to Gijang.” Gijang-gun, Busan, has requested the government to relocate the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC), which serves as the control tower for nuclear power plant safety, to Gijang-gun.

In response to news that the government is considering relocating the NSSC to Sejong City or Daejeon City, Gijang-gun announced its opposition on the 10th and set a policy to demand the relocation to within Gijang-gun by offering incentives such as land provision and administrative support.

On November 11 at 9:30 a.m., Gijang-gun plans to hold a countermeasure meeting chaired by the county governor to discuss Gijang-gun’s role and response measures for the NSSC’s relocation to Gijang-gun.

Oh Gyu-seok, governor of Gijang-gun, said, “It is only appropriate for the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission to relocate to a city where nuclear power plants are located. Being on-site allows for constant safety inspections and field verification. If it relocates to a nuclear power plant barren area, I want to ask the government what difference it makes compared to being in Seoul.”

Governor Oh emphasized the validity of relocating the NSSC by stating, “Among the five cities with nuclear power plants, Gijang-gun is the world’s largest nuclear power plant cluster area and the region where Korea’s first nuclear power plant, Kori Unit 1, is currently undergoing decommissioning procedures. It is also a densely populated area with 8 million residents in Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam.”

He argued that relocating the NSSC to Gijang-gun aligns with the government’s purpose and principles of relocating public institutions to local areas, considering the region’s unique characteristics.

Governor Oh said, “To promote the NSSC’s relocation to Gijang-gun, we will provide land free of charge and spare no administrative support necessary.”

He also stated, “For over 40 years, the residents of Gijang-gun have endured various mental and property damages for the production of electricity, which has been the driving force of national development. Now it is time for the central government to compensate for this, and one of those compensations is the relocation of the NSSC to Gijang-gun and the construction of the Gijang Line and Jeonggwan Line of the urban railway.”

The Gijang Line and Jeonggwan Line of the urban railway are explained to be the only large-scale transportation means that can enable rapid evacuation in case of a nuclear emergency, serving as a lifeline to protect the safety and lives of 170,000 Gijang residents and 3.4 million Busan citizens.

Governor Oh emphasized, “In line with the relocation of the nuclear power plant’s jurisdiction, the government must select the Gijang Line and Jeonggwan Line as projects exempt from preliminary feasibility studies regardless of economic feasibility such as BC and promptly construct them.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.