[Incheon City Audit] No Progress on Sudokwon Landfill Site Closure... Yoo Jeong-bok "Great Responsibility of the 7th Elected Administration"

At the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee's inspection of Incheon City on the 19th, the issue of ending the use of the Sudogwon Landfill Site emerged as a key topic. Committee members urged related agencies to take a more active role in finding an alternative site for the metropolitan area landfill, while Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok blamed former Mayor Park Nam-chun, saying the previous city administration caused confusion.

Lee Hae-sik, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated, "The Sudogwon Landfill Site issue is one of the representative social conflict challenges in our country," and emphasized, "The government should not just shift the responsibility to the three metropolitan cities and provinces of Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi-do, but must take direct action."

Incheon City has demanded the termination of the landfill's use, citing over 30 years of environmental damage since the Sudogwon Landfill Site opened in 1992 while processing waste from Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. However, there has been little progress in finding an alternative landfill site. The Ministry of Environment and the cities of Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi-do have operated a four-party policy consultative body on the Sudogwon Landfill Site since early this year, but no concrete plans for securing an alternative landfill have emerged.

Lee said, "Although there was a four-party agreement and regular meetings within the consultative body, these are ultimately meetings at the director-general level," and argued, "Since this is a problem difficult to solve even if the three heads of local governments meet, the president must step in directly and propose a solution through groundbreaking alternative incentives."

Lee Seong-man, an independent lawmaker representing Incheon, said, "I also told Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon that incentives should be expanded to encourage the search for an alternative landfill through a public contest," and urged, "Incheon City must also make active efforts to realize the creation of an alternative landfill site."

On the 19th, at the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee's audit of Incheon City held at Incheon City Hall, Mayor Yoo Jung-bok of Incheon City is responding to the committee members' questions.
[Photo by Incheon City]

Meanwhile, Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok claimed that the Incheon city government during the 7th local administration made it difficult to resolve the Sudogwon Landfill Site issue by pursuing its own landfill site. Mayor Yoo said, "I resolved the problem that previous mayors could not solve through a four-party agreement during the 6th local administration," adding, "We agreed on creating an alternative landfill site, transferring landfill licenses, and management rights, but the 7th local administration misguided the issue."

He pointed out, "Most of the waste brought into the Sudogwon Landfill Site comes from Seoul and Gyeonggi-do, so they must create an alternative landfill site first to end its use," and added, "However, Incheon City caused confusion by attempting to create its own landfill site, making the situation difficult, and former Mayor Park Nam-chun complicated the matter." Mayor Yoo explained, "We are now trying to reach an agreement again with the spirit of the four-party consultative body."

Jeong Woo-taek of the People Power Party also agreed, saying, "During the 7th local administration, Incheon City spent 61.7 billion won to purchase land for its own landfill site, but the site is criticized as a 'white elephant' because it is difficult to use for other purposes and has poor accessibility, making resale difficult."

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