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SEOUL, 27 Feb. (Yonhap) — The Environment Ministry on Monday gave the conditional green light to a controversial plan to build and operate a cable car system over a nature reserve on Mount Seorak, near the east coast of South Korea.
The project, which has been ongoing since the 1980s, aims to construct a 3.3-kilometer-long cable car system between Seoraksan National Park Osaek Yangyang County area and near the top of the mountain.
When completed as planned, the system will serve 53 cable cars to carry up to 825 passengers per hour.
The site is within a state-designated nature reserve as well as a biosphere reserve designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The Ministry of Environment’s regional office in Wonju has given ‘conditional consent’ to an environmental impact assessment report submitted by Yangyang County on the project, saying it includes measures to reduce the effects harmful to the environment.
Indeed, the decision marks the lifting of all administrative obstacles for the project in addition to a revision of the regional budget by the Ministry of the Interior.
It will be the first ropeway line to be installed in an inland national park since approval was last granted in 1989 for a mountaintop gondola system at Mount Deogyu in North Jeolla Province, which entered into force. served in 1997.
The project is among the goals of the Balanced Development Policy selected by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s transition team and a campaign pledge by Gangwon Provincial Governor Kim Jin-tae.
The project has been the subject of a heated debate between environmentalists who argue that the ecology of the area, including mountain goats, would suffer irreversible damage and developmentists who claim that the project would boost the local economy and the tourism industry.
Monday’s green light marks a reversal of the Wonju Regional Environment Bureau’s decision against the ropeway project in 2019 over “fear of negative environmental impact”.
Yangyang County later challenged the decision by filing an administrative lawsuit and obtained a court order to have the project’s environmental impact assessment report reconsidered.
The environment office said the consent was given on the condition that environmental monitoring is carried out for legally protected species, such as mountain goats, before, during and after construction works and that measures are taken. taken accordingly.
He also said a watchdog committee made up of academics and experts should be formed to investigate legally protected and native plant species.
Yangyang Country said it plans to start construction work early next year with the aim of completing the facility by 2026.
Activists denounce a cable car project on Mount Seorak during a press conference in Wonju, Gangwon province on February 2, 2023. (Yonhap)
Environmentalists decried the decision.
“The latest setback for a national park could lead to more environmentally irresponsible development projects across the country,” said Lee Yong-ki, an activist. “Human intervention invariably leads to the destruction of the environment. It will be more useful for preserving nature, even from the point of view of the local economy.
This file image shows a mountain goat spotted at the site of a controversial cable car project on Mount Seorak. (Yonhap)
pbr@yna.co.kr
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