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The government decided Sunday to appeal a ruling by the Seoul Administrative Court ordering a controversial mega land reclamation project scrapped or substantially altered.
The Agriculture and Forestry Ministry, which is in charge of the Saemangeum reclamation project, told a press conference that it was unrealistic to abort the whole project simply because things had changed since its launch. The court on Friday cited factors like continually rising water levels as rendering the project no longer viable.
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A bird's-eye-view of Saemangeum
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Vice Minister Lee Myung-soo said water quality in the Saemangeum area was greatly improving due to government efforts and stressed that a public-private study in 2000 had recognized the project’s economic viability.
Environmental groups vowed to fight on by petitioning the appeals court to suspend work on the project. This could mean the project, which is 90 percent complete, could become bogged down in a long-term legal battle.
(Park Jong-se, jspark@chosun.com )
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