Democratic Party PK Lawmakers: "Let's Start Bipartisan Cooperation on Gadeok New Airport"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] Democratic Party lawmakers from the PK region (Busan, Ulsan, Gyeongnam) proposed on the 18th to urge the enactment of the Gadeokdo New Airport Special Act and to start bipartisan cooperation.

Democratic Party lawmakers Park Jae-ho, Jeon Jae-soo, Choi In-ho (Busan), Kim Doo-kwan, Kim Jung-ho, Min Hong-chul (Gyeongnam), and Lee Sang-heon (Ulsan) held a press conference at the National Assembly that morning and stated, “Democratic Party lawmakers from Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam will work hard to promptly prepare the special bill for the swift promotion of Gadeok New Airport and to make it the party’s official stance.”

[Image source=Yonhap News]

They also addressed the opposition People Power Party, saying, “We hope to jointly propose the special bill and promote it as the official stance of the People Power Party,” and suggested, “Let’s start discussions on joint responses with the participation of the heads of the Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam provincial party committees from both parties.”

The lawmakers emphasized, “Certain local governments and some political figures claim that they never agreed to the Gadeokdo New Airport or argue that the five Yeongnam region cities and provinces must re-agree, but these claims are neither factually accurate nor reasonable and are undesirable,” adding, “Strictly speaking, the party that broke the agreement is the one that has already secured approval to independently pursue an airport in their own region, which requires astronomical financial resources.”

After the press conference, Representative Jeon told reporters, “The special bill could be jointly proposed not only by lawmakers from both parties in Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam but also by lawmakers from Daegu and Gyeongbuk,” and added, “Yesterday, independent lawmaker Hong Joon-pyo also expressed a positive stance, so it is necessary to actively explore joint proposals including lawmakers from Daegu and Gyeongbuk as well as Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam.”

Regarding criticisms that the move is ‘for election purposes,’ he emphasized, “If it were for election purposes, would we use such a tremendous card for a one-year term Busan mayoral election? Over the past two years, we have made strenuous efforts, joining forces with 8 million city and provincial residents to correct a wrong political decision, and this is the result of efforts for balanced national development.”

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