Seoul~Yangpyeong Expressway Project Canceled... "15-Year Long-Awaited Project Ruined in a Day"

The government has declared a complete cancellation of the Seoul~Yangpyeong Expressway project. This move is analyzed as a strong measure to quell growing suspicions of favoritism after it was revealed that the terminus of the Seoul~Yangpyeong Expressway was recently changed to a location close to land owned by the family of First Lady Kim Keon-hee, wife of President Yoon Seok-yeol, differing from the original plan.

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong is speaking at the ruling party and government working-level meeting of the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee of the People Power Party regarding fake news about the Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway, held on the morning of the 6th at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

The Seoul~Yangpyeong Expressway was originally a long-awaited project of Yangpyeong County, initiated in 2008 to resolve chronic traffic congestion near Yangpyeong. Initially pursued as a private investment project, it was not advanced for 10 years due to concerns over economic feasibility. It was only included in the government’s expressway construction plan in 2017, allowing the project to finally move forward. However, with the project abruptly canceled, residents in Yangpyeong are expressing shock, describing it as a “bolt from the blue.”

The Seoul~Yangpyeong Expressway took its first step when it was included in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s ‘1st Expressway Construction Plan’ (2016?2020) in January 2017. In April 2021, it passed the preliminary feasibility study (PFS) and was tentatively confirmed as a four-lane road spanning 27 km from Gamildong, Hanam City, Gyeonggi Province to Yangseo-myeon, Yangpyeong County. Construction was scheduled to begin in 2025 and be completed by 2031, with a total project cost estimated at 1.7695 trillion KRW. Upon opening, travel time by car from Seoul to Yangpyeong was expected to be drastically reduced from the current 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours down to about 15 minutes.

Subsequently, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport began a project feasibility study in March last year to actively promote the project, and from July of the same year, engaged in detailed route discussions with related agencies including Yangpyeong County and Hanam City. During this process, an alternative route was proposed beyond the route that passed the PFS. The terminus was moved from Yangseo-myeon to Gangsang-myeon, and an additional interchange (IC) was to be installed, extending the road length by 2 km to a total of 29 km. The project cost also increased by about 100 billion KRW to 1.8661 trillion KRW.

Route change plan for Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway.
[Photo by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport]

In May, the Ministry publicly disclosed the new route plan for the strategic environmental impact assessment, which led opposition parties to raise suspicions that “the government attempted to change the route to grant favoritism to the First Lady’s family.” In fact, the land owned by the First Lady’s family (22,663㎡) is located just 500 meters from the terminus in Gangsang-myeon of the alternative route.

Regarding this, the Ministry explained in a briefing that “the alternative routes were prepared based on proposals from Yangpyeong County, considering factors such as the possibility of installing an interchange, expected traffic demand, and minimizing environmental damage,” and that “after holding resident briefings and reflecting the results of the strategic environmental impact assessment in the feasibility study, the optimal route would be selected.”

However, as suspicions of favoritism did not subside despite the explanation, the Ministry decided to halt the Seoul~Yangpyeong Expressway project. On the 6th, after a party-government consultation meeting at the National Assembly, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong told reporters, “Unless the First Lady relocates or disposes of the ancestral burial grounds, the Democratic Party’s ‘fly-by-night agitation’ will not cease, so we will remove the cause,” declaring a full suspension of the project.

Since construction has not yet begun, the sunk cost due to the project cancellation is estimated to be only in the 2 billion KRW range for consulting fees. However, it is expected that opposition from Yangpyeong County residents, who had pinned their hopes on the Seoul~Yangpyeong Expressway, will grow stronger.

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