Seoul-Incheon canal

Since his reelection (see "OH Se-hoon V2.0"), the Mayor of Seoul has been constantly struggling with an opposition-dominated city council*.

The mother of all battles ? School meals : the DP voted to make them free for all elementary school students regardless of familial revenues, but OH wanted a fairer welfare system redistributing more to the poor. Note that in France, political parties opposing free meals for all are generally left leaning, but Korea is obviously a different story. Anyway, to undo the change, the Mayor collected 800,000 signatures from Seoul citizens, well over the 400,000 or so needed. Still, he's now ready to jeopardize his political future in a referendum on the issue.

But officially, OH Se-hoon is less interested in the road to Cheong Wa Dae than in the Seoul-Incheon canal, a new battlefield for which he is even willing to end his boycott of city council meetings.

Officially called Gyeongin Canal, the project connects Incheon with Gimpo, but OH wants boats to continue all the way to Yeouido, where he plans to build a port (bridges also have to be renovated in the process). In his words : the government already set the table, Seoul just has to put its own dishes to enjoy the meal.

What's on the menu ? Among other delicacies, cruise ships loaded with Chinese tourists. Increasingly hopping from hub to hub across the whole region (Incheon, Busan, Fukuoka...), they don't pay hotel rooms, but can be taxed for each night... Freight also represents a big business, and road traffic between the Port of Incheon and the Capital could be considerably reduced.

Incheon (then Jemulpo) was chosen for good reasons : it's the perfect landing spot, and not just for McArthur. If you take a map, the Han river reaches the Yellow Sea near Ganghwa island following a trickier path and furthermore, it is now the frontier with North Korea (these days, you never know who's shooting whom in this area).

You've probably already seen the Gyeongin Canal on the way from or to Incheon Airport : that's the huge construction site parallel to the highway (North). The project was stalled for years but has been revived about two years ago, when the Four Great Rivers project gained momentum. And like with the whole Sa Dae Gang project, the environmental debate is far from over.

But even if this project happens to fold, you can always ride a boat for just KRW 4,000 per hour in the recently inaugurated Seoul Marina. Or join Mangwon Hangang Park by ferry with your bike for just KRW 1,000.

Hey, Hangang Renaissance is not just hype after all.

Seoul Village 2011
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* not always for the worse - I'm glad some of his pet projects were axed : see "The fastuous and the furious : trimming down Seoul city's most embarrassing projects"

About handovers and hangovers

Collateral damage of the Cheonan tragedy : Korea postponed the hand over of operational control of its military affairs from US to homegrown boys with toys. In a scene worthy of Kubrick's Dr Strangelove, the top general in charge happened to be drunk at the worst moment (remember that Clinton ad about the 3 A.M. phone call ?).

No MP was allegedly wasted during the vote on Sejong City, but the parliament nonetheless sunk LEE Myung-bak's revision plan 164 to 105 (6 abstentions, zero wicket, no overtime). Retrospectively, it appears that the President perfectly manipulated that hot potato :
- in front of History, LEE did the right thing : declaring that ROH Moo-hyun's project of relocating the capital city was not only populist but wrong for the country and had to be aborted, even if that meant contradicting his own campaign pledges to go according to the initial plan*
- in front of Chungnam voters, LEE did the right thing : propose a sustainable alternative, with the contribution of wealthy backers*
- and as a shrewd politician, LEE did the right thing : using the Sejong City controversy as the ideal scapegoat following his party's electoral debacle, playing Pontius Pilate and letting the parliament curb the dog, torpedoing his Prime Minister (CHUNG Un-chan, a Sejong City opponent but also a potential presidential candidate for the opposition before this mess), destroying fellow party members who voted against the revised plan (history will remember that picture of Park Geun-hye checking NO on her computer screen, that moment when personal ambition killed her political future)... and pursuing his own insanely pharaonic pet follies (ie the even more controversial Four Rivers Project).

Of course, local elections shouldn't decide for the fate of a National Capital, and a nationwide referendum would make more sense. Furthermore, the concept was already ruled as non constitutional by the Supreme Court, and seriously edulcorated : only the PM and half of the ministries would move, actually splitting the Central Government in two and its efficiency in countless ways.

Of course, it ain't over till it's over. As they emerged from their "victory" hangover, Chungcheongnam-do voters realized their mistake and demanded the B Plan to be implemented as well because it was economically much more sustainable : big companies, who would have invested billions in that Utopia 2.0, are now freed from their engagements and courted by all other local administrations.

An embarrassment for Korea, the potato is uglier and hotter than ever, and will land on the next president's lap.

Both the military and capital handovers are supposed to happen in 2015, but I wouldn't bet a buck on either of them. More hangovers ? Now that's a sure bet.

Seoul Village 2010


* see "Sejong City and the beauty of lameduckhood" and all posts related to Sejong City.