Joo Myung-geon, Honorary Chairman of Sejong University, "Utilizing Low Birthrate Fund with Revised Plan for Gadeokdo New Airport"

Joo Myung-geon, Honorary Chairman of Sejong University, stated, “Currently, the construction of Gadeokdo Airport requires a budget of 15 trillion won, but with some modifications, it could actually generate revenue of 563 trillion won. If this is turned into a childcare policy fund, it could dramatically increase the birth rate, just as France solved its population issues through government support.”

Sejong University campus. [Photo by Sejong University]

At the Land Renovation Strategy seminar held on the 15th at Sejong University’s Daeyang AI Center, Chairman Joo said, “If the runway, currently planned in an east-west direction, is changed to a north-south direction and connected by a seawall from Gadeokdo to Dadaepo, an 86㎢ reclaimed land area will be created south of Gangseo-gu. Selling this land would raise 237 trillion won. Additionally, dredging 337 km from the Nakdong River estuary to Mungyeong at an average depth of 20 meters would produce about 39.3 billion cubic meters of dredged soil. Selling this aggregate would secure approximately 326 trillion won in funds, and the excavated soil can be used as landfill,” he explained.

Chairman Joo emphasized, “If the Five Major Rivers are dredged deeper and wider to increase their water capacity to 120 billion tons, it would be equivalent to four of the world’s largest Three Gorges Dams. Using the dredged soil from this, it is necessary to reclaim land to expand Korea’s urban area by more than 32%.”

He added, “If the Nakdong River is dredged to allow 100,000-ton barges to operate up to Daegu, inland cities will be directly connected to the global supply chain. By effectively utilizing the new Gadeokdo Airport, Busan can be transformed into a world-class logistics hub, and national power can be elevated to G2 level.”

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