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The Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a lower court’s ruling against the construction of a strategic naval base on Jeju Island, clearing the way for the project to enhance South Korea’s maritime defense.
The court returned the case to a Seoul appellate court for a retrial.
In June 2011, the court ruled against the controversial construction, saying that the Defense Ministry’s approval for it should be invalidated as it came before a required evaluation of its impact on the environment.
The top court, however, said that the construction is legitimate given that the ministry carried out the approval process once again in 2010 after reflecting on the result of the environmental examination.
The ministry gave the green light in 2009 for the project without the examination. But a year later, the approval process was carried out again amid controversy over the environmental impact of the construction.
A total of 438 residents of Gangjeong village, the construction site, filed a lawsuit against Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin in April 2009.
Since the village in Seogwipo of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province was designated as the site of the project in June 2007, controversy over it has persisted with both sides refusing to budge.
Opponents argue that the planned installation could lead to the militarization of the island, which the government designated an “Island of World Peace” in 2005. They also claim that the base would cause the environmental degradation of the island famous for tourist attractions.
Military officials have claimed that the construction is necessary to properly cope with contingencies in the southern sea area, secure the country’s maritime transportation routes and help boost the regional economy.
The conflict-ridden project calls for establishing a “military-civilian” compound on the island, 90 kilometers off the peninsula’s south coast, to provide piers and other related facilities to dock a mobile fleet of up to 20 naval vessels and a number of 150,000-ton cruisers.
By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)
The court returned the case to a Seoul appellate court for a retrial.
In June 2011, the court ruled against the controversial construction, saying that the Defense Ministry’s approval for it should be invalidated as it came before a required evaluation of its impact on the environment.
The top court, however, said that the construction is legitimate given that the ministry carried out the approval process once again in 2010 after reflecting on the result of the environmental examination.
The ministry gave the green light in 2009 for the project without the examination. But a year later, the approval process was carried out again amid controversy over the environmental impact of the construction.
A total of 438 residents of Gangjeong village, the construction site, filed a lawsuit against Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin in April 2009.
Since the village in Seogwipo of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province was designated as the site of the project in June 2007, controversy over it has persisted with both sides refusing to budge.
Opponents argue that the planned installation could lead to the militarization of the island, which the government designated an “Island of World Peace” in 2005. They also claim that the base would cause the environmental degradation of the island famous for tourist attractions.
Military officials have claimed that the construction is necessary to properly cope with contingencies in the southern sea area, secure the country’s maritime transportation routes and help boost the regional economy.
The conflict-ridden project calls for establishing a “military-civilian” compound on the island, 90 kilometers off the peninsula’s south coast, to provide piers and other related facilities to dock a mobile fleet of up to 20 naval vessels and a number of 150,000-ton cruisers.
By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)
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Articles by Korea Herald
