hankyoreh

Residents of Maeri Village, Kimhae city, South Gyeongnam Province, hold a demonstration to demand that the village be excluded from the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project at a central location of the village, Feb. 5.

Approximately 200 villagers have expressed anger because as a result of the project, which will broaden the Nakdong River nearby, they will be forced to leave their village, where they have lived for many generations.

If the Lee administration orders construction workers to dredge the riverbanks in order to broaden the river, the village will become uninhabitable as a result of flooding from the dredging.

Chung Jeong-dae, the 72-year-old head of the village said, “The government has ordered us to leave the village and has given us only a small amount of compensation, however, we cannot find any other place to live.”

Photo by Choi Sang-won/The Hankyoreh