Ruling Party's 'Jitto-ggi Dalrae-gi'... Speeding Up Daegu Military Base Relocation

Joo Ho-young "Daegu Has Played a Role for South Korea's Overall Security
For Too Long"

The People Power Party has decided to promptly resolve the long-standing issue of relocating military bases in Daegu, traditionally considered a stronghold. This move appears to be an effort to appease local supporters as the ruling party's approval ratings have recently weakened in Daegu.

On the morning of the 4th, the People Power Party held the "Party-Government Council for Civil-Military Cooperation including the Relocation of Military Bases in Daegu" at the National Assembly, attended by lawmakers from Daegu and Gyeongbuk (TK). They agreed that the Ministry of National Defense and Daegu City would cooperate to select the optimal relocation site among five candidate regions that applied to host the military bases: Gunwi-gun, Sangju-si, Yeongcheon-si, Uiseong-gun, and Chilgok-gun.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Recently, the People Power Party's approval ratings in TK have been declining. According to the regular public opinion poll for the fifth week of November released by Realmeter on the same day (commissioned by Energy Economy Newspaper; detailed information available on the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission website), the support rate for the People Power Party in TK was 49.7%, down 5.8 percentage points from the previous week’s 55.5%. Even in TK, a traditional stronghold of the People Power Party, support has fallen below 50%.

Because of this, there is an interpretation that the party-government council meeting was held to soothe public sentiment in Daegu. The relocation of military bases discussed by the party and government is one of the biggest issues in Daegu alongside the TK New Airport project. On the 20th of last month, Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo stated at the "Signing Ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding for the Daegu Military Airport Relocation Project," "Not only the TK New Airport project but also the military base relocation project within Daegu city will soon proceed," adding, "Civil engineering and construction projects occurring near Daegu over the next 20 years will amount to about 100 trillion won."

Joo Ho-young, a five-term lawmaker from Daegu, explained in his remarks at the party-government meeting, "Daegu has as many as seven military bases, some of which are over 50 years old, making normal space utilization difficult," and added, "As a result of several consultations between Daegu City and the Ministry of National Defense, we are now on the verge of signing an MOU after seeing the potential for relocation."

He also emphasized that Daegu has sacrificed for national security. Lawmaker Joo said, "Daegu has played the role of a military base for the security of the entire Republic of Korea for too long," and continued, "The final goal is to relocate the bases to better areas based on operational reviews so that Daegu can properly utilize its space, and the Ministry of National Defense and military authorities can create an optimal environment with new facilities and updated operational concepts, achieving early relocation."

In the briefing following the meeting, the party and government requested that the Ministry of National Defense and Daegu City cooperate to select the optimal relocation site among the five candidate regions?Gunwi-gun, Sangju-si, Yeongcheon-si, Uiseong-gun, and Chilgok-gun?that applied to host the military bases.

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