hankyoreh

Gyeonggi Province

The Lee Myung-bak administration has announced plans to deploy members of the military to assist with the construction for the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project, which is currently facing strong public opposition.

According to an official document of cooperation between the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM), obtained by Democratic Party Lawmaker Ahn Gyu-back of the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee, the ROK Army Second Operations Command and Busan Regional Construction Management Administration concluded an agreement for army engineers to provide support for construction along Area 35 of the Nakdong River. To do this, the Defense Ministry assembled a unit centered on the 1117th Engineer Group of the Second Operations Command, which it will deploy from June to next November. The task of the army engineers will be to take the sediment soil removed during deep dredging of the riverbeds and moving it to a different location. Some 117 military engineers and 72 units of equipment including 50 dump trucks, will be deployed to the site. Military engineers will billet in a location near the construction site. The Defense Ministry has budgeted some 2.75 billion Won ($2.47 million) for equipment and billeting. The Busan Regional Construction Management Administration will support the costs.

As a display of military labor force being directly deployed to a government-led national construction site, it will be difficult for the move to avoid criticism as an inappropriate military mobilization of the sort that has been difficult to spot since South Korea’s democratization after military dictatorship.

According to a report submitted by the Defense Ministry to Lawmaker Ahn on military deployments to national construction sites, the army was deployed as a major source of construction labor force to national projects during the military dictatorship, such as the construction of the Seoul-Busan Highway (1968 to 1970), Uljin-Hyeon-dong Road (1982 to 1984) and Seoul Beltway (1991 to 1994).

During a telephone interview with the Hankyoreh, a Ministry of Defense official said for the purpose of contributing to a national project, the ministry had accepted a request to participate in the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project from the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, and it would also assist in training the army engineers for their own duty.

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