[The Editors' Verdict] Saemangeum: Perhaps Leaving It Alone Is the 'Big Picture'

Although 117 billion won in budget was secured by placing the Jamboree in Saemangeum, the organizing committee spent three-quarters of it, 87 billion won, on operating expenses. Looking back at the Saemangeum project history, this seems understandable. The Jamboree site being completely different from the plan was probably inevitable since it was a project attached to Saemangeum. Since the announcement of the Saemangeum project plan 36 years ago, it has been a flashy project that only extracted benefits from unrealistic plans, with no one taking responsibility even when things went off course.

The Saemangeum reclamation farmland development plan created by the Chun Doo-hwan government in 1987 was not a matter of national interest. It was just a corner filler in the campaign pledges of presidential candidate Roh Tae-woo that year, and there is a later anecdote that it became an issue when a reporter from a major media outlet asked in an interview, "What about regional pledges?" Candidate Roh declared at a Gunsan rally on December 10 of that year that Saemangeum was the top national project priority.

However, during the first three years of the Roh Tae-woo administration, the Economic Planning Board did not open the treasury citing lack of feasibility. In today's terms, it failed the Ministry of Strategy and Finance's preliminary feasibility study. Then, in January 1991, the Saemangeum seawall construction began following a summit request from Kim Dae-jung, leader of the Peace Democratic Party. Ironically, the Kim Dae-jung government halted seawall construction due to opposition from environmental groups but resumed it after regional backlash intensified.

As the reclamation farmland development project turned into a political regional development project, rosy promises from the government and politicians were abundant. In 2004, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry announced plans to develop Saemangeum into a world-class eco-tourism complex attracting 3 million visitors annually. The official in charge confidently assured that it would be realized due to the will of a senior ruling party lawmaker turned minister, but after the minister's retirement, the tourism complex plan never resurfaced from the official’s drawer.

Blueprints to transform Saemangeum into the Northeast Asia economic hub, establish an international commodity exchange, and attract aerospace research institutes, among others, were proposed countless times afterward, but none broke ground. The projects lacked feasibility. Ironically, thanks to this, the Saemangeum reclamation area has not become a concrete ghost town. Apart from seawall construction and reclamation, no large-scale fiscal investment was made. The Saemangeum Development Corporation, capitalized with 1.4 trillion won from taxpayers by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, recorded cumulative sales of 8.9 billion won and cumulative operating losses of 38.5 billion won over five years until last year. There are no profits, but losses are also small.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo announced a full review of Saemangeum infrastructure projects, including the international airport where only flocks of migratory birds might land. This decision means that several hundred billion won of taxpayers’ money planned for Saemangeum next year will remain in the national treasury for now. The Prime Minister instructed to "redraw the big picture," and it is hoped that the new plan will favor patient waiting over reckless development. The lack of feasible projects is evident from the Saemangeum Development Corporation’s performance. We expect a century-long plan that focuses on water quality improvement and environmental preservation while waiting for real usefulness to emerge.

Stock investors without suitable stocks say that holding cash and waiting is the best investment. Saemangeum is the same. If there is no definite use for the land, it is best to keep it for the future. Although cash loses value over time due to inflation, land does not disappear or lose value, so waiting is acceptable.

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