Gwangju City Requests Jeonnam Province to Support Submission of Intent Letters for Local Governments to Host Military Airports

Request for Third Meeting of Provincial Governors... Proposal for Four-Party Discussion Including Hampyeong and Muan

Gwangju Metropolitan City has announced its official stance regarding the relocation of the military airport, one of the biggest issues in the Gwangju area.

On the afternoon of the 15th, Kim Gwang-jin, Deputy Mayor for Culture and Economy of Gwangju, said at a press briefing room in City Hall, “We ask for the active support and endorsement of Jeonnam Province so that local governments within Jeonnam can submit letters of intent to host the military airport.”

Deputy Mayor Kim explained, “In December, Hampyeong-gun is scheduled to conduct a resident survey related to the military airport relocation,” adding, “Currently, the Gwangju civilian airport uses the runway and infrastructure in a lease format from the military airport.”

Therefore, if the military airport is relocated, the civilian airport cannot operate independently and must also be relocated.

For the same reason, if the military airport is not relocated, the civilian airport, which currently serves 2 million passengers annually, will inevitably remain in Gwangju, so this is not a matter of choice, according to Deputy Mayor Kim.

He stated, “In this situation, it was very regrettable that on the 2nd, Jeonnam Province issued a statement requesting Gwangju City to stop mentioning Hampyeong-gun regarding the military airport relocation,” emphasizing, “Gwangju City’s position is clear in hoping that letters of intent to host will be submitted from both Muan-gun and Hampyeong-gun.”

He also said, “Even if letters of intent are submitted, it will take at least two years or more to be selected as the final candidate site,” adding, “During that period, we will actively discover and discuss customized support projects reflecting the demands of each local government, including the timing of the civilian airport relocation. As Gwangju Metropolitan City has already proposed, in addition to the direct support project worth 1 trillion won, we will prepare ways to create economic and industrial synergy between our city and the candidate local governments.”

Furthermore, he said, “If the military airport is constructed in the relocation area, the economy will be revitalized through construction projects worth trillions of won, and new breakthroughs can be made in the local economy through support projects.”

He added, “Hampyeong-gun planned to submit a letter of intent through its own public opinion survey at the end of June, but Jeonnam Province requested the Ministry of National Defense and Hampyeong-gun to postpone the survey to the end of December, causing a delay,” and “A resident survey for submitting the letter of intent will be conducted soon.”

He also noted, “If the residents of Hampyeong-gun agree, it is possible to simultaneously relocate the military airport to Hampyeong and the civilian airport to Muan,” adding, “Mayor Kang Ki-jung of Gwangju has not changed his usual conviction that Muan Airport should be developed as a hub airport for the southwestern region.”

Deputy Mayor Kim also immediately requested a third meeting between the two provincial governors of Jeonnam and Gwangju.

He said, “I hope that meeting will continue efforts for coexistence and cooperation by creating a discussion platform among Jeonnam Province, Gwangju City, Hampyeong-gun, and Muan-gun,” adding, “I expect Jeonnam Province to respond magnanimously to the issue of relocating the Gwangju military and civilian airports, which is a long-standing wish of Gwangju citizens and a catalyst for mutual growth between the two cities and provinces.”

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