
The construction of the Jeju naval base in South Korea: Conflicts with local communities
Abstract Conflicts in public infrastructure projects are mostly inevitable because those facilities are considered to negatively influence the living environments of local communities, which is commonly known as a ‘Not In My Backyard’ (NIMBY) or a ‘Locally Unwanted Land Use’ (LULU) phenomenon. Conflicts in the Jeju naval base construction project, however, are far more dynamic and complicated involved with social and political values than classic NIMBY cases. Local resistance to the naval base nested in Gangjeong Village on Jeju Island has been rooted in deep concerns about the site selection process and environmental degradation. Jeju Island has been designated as UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, a Natural Heritage Site, and a Geopark so ecological impact of the base is a pivotal issue for the local community.
The naval base construction project took about 23 years to complete its construction that was planned in 1993 and completed in 2016. Central government decided to build a new naval base on Jeju Island to enhance national security and maritime presence of the Korea Navy in 1993 and selected Gangjeong Village for the construction project in 2007. However, lack of procedural justification, environmental assessment, and communication between government and Gangjeong residents brought the large scale of conflicts and protests throughout the whole construction period. Government applied a ‘decide-announced-defend’ procedure for building a new naval base but top-down government decision making was no longer supportive to execute policy without taking local residents’ concerns at the beginning of decision making. The original plan was modified several times by expanding its usability for military vessels and cruise ships, but it did not matter how much effort the residents put into opposing the construction plan thus far.
The scope of issues in the Jeju naval base case was dynamically evolved at different stages of the construction project overtime since sufficient justification for site selection, ecological concerns, and mutual agreements between government and Gangjeong residents were overlooked throughout the whole construction period. A wide range of exhausting dilemmas faced by Gangjeong residents and government inherently occurred and constantly came back to them. This case presents resolving conflicts is much better than winning conflicts in case of public infrastructure projects.
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Work Title | The construction of the Jeju naval base in South Korea: Conflicts with local communities |
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License | No Copyright - U.S. |
Work Type | Part Of Book |
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Publication Date | 2018 |
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Deposited | April 05, 2024 |
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