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A project to repair Korea's four main rivers has only been outlined in terms of budget, but it is already being met with scrutiny by many who feel it is the abortive Grand Canal Project under another name. This aim was to connect the country's major northern and southern rivers in a network that would eventually connect to a waterway in North Korea.
Amid controversy, the president shelved the plan in June saying that it will not be sought without the people's consent. But the controversy was recently reignited by a remark by presidential secretary for economic affairs Park Byung-won, who said if the public wants to pursue the canal project after the riverways project, there is nothing the government could do to stop it.
But Prime Minister Han Seung-soo has denied the claims, saying the purpose of the river repairs is solely for creating new jobs and propping up the sagging economy. The government touts the clean-up as the Korean version of America's New Deal, which generated new jobs through public works projects during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Arirang News
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