[Editorial] Foregone conclusion

Moon government formed panel of experts, all of whom opposed four-river project

The state audit agency announced inspection results last week showing that the previous Moon Jae-in administration's decision to dismantle three weirs and keep two open indefinitely on the Geum and Yeongsan rivers was made in an irrational and biased fashion following a foregone conclusion. From the beginning, there was no room for the possibility of weir management or maintenance.

In May 2017, the Environment Ministry formed a four-river project evaluation group under the pretext of restoring the nature of the four major rivers -- the Geum, Yeongsan, Nakdong and Han rivers.

As a liberal presidential candidate, Moon vowed to tear down or keep weirs open on the four major rivers. Weirs were constructed as a signature project of the former conservative President Lee Myung-bak.

The ministry created two committees within the group -- a planning committee of eight civilians and seven ministry officials, as well as an expert committee of 43 civilians. The ministry made a list of 169 experts who were recommended by related institutions, and handed it over to an alliance of environmental groups opposing the four-river project.

The alliance returned the list to the ministry after marking "N" beside the names of those who supported or aided the project. "N" stood for "No," meaning that the marked persons should not sit on the committees. The ministry excluded blacklisted experts from the committees. All of the civilian members were figures who opposed the project.

The evaluation group's conclusion was obvious. In February 2019, the ministry decided to dismantle three weirs and keep two open on the Geum and Yeongsang rivers, as the group advised.

More absurd is the group’s distorted review of the validity of the weirs. It intentionally used inadequate data.

In evaluating the advantages of weirs, the group compared data measured before weir installation with data measured when weirs were open. It considered the fact that water quality on the Yeongsan River deteriorated while a weir on the river was provisionally open. The evaluation group should have used data actually measured when weir gates were open or closed. River shape and water flow have already changed in the process of building weirs. Past data measured before weir construction cannot be equal to data after weir dismantlement.

According to recorded minutes, a committee member voiced concern, saying, "There is noise to eliminate in using past data. If we used it as is, experts who are against us would call us ignorant." Another member said, "Uninterested ordinary people would think data we use seems to make sense. It is good for delivering our message." This shows they were aware of problems in the evaluation method. Still they used it and concluded weirs should be dismantled or kept open. They treated people like fools.

It is nothing new for the Moon administration to hide, distort and manipulate facts that were inconvenient to its policies. It distorted statistics when its income-led growth policies aggravated employment and income distribution. Government officials destroyed documents in the dead of night to erase data debunking Moon’s nuclear phase-out policy.

The Board of Audit and Inspection recently announced the results of its inspection into the Moon administration’s environmental effect evaluation of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, a US anti-missile system installed in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province.

The Moon administration received environmental impact evaluation reports from the Ministry of National Defense. According to the reports, electromagnetic waves and noise around the THAAD base had negligible effects on the human body, but the government did not disclose the reports.

The current government must thoroughly investigate the decision on weirs' demolition and take stern legal actions against those involved. That is a way to prevent recurrence of a similar absurd decision.

Environment Minister Han Wha-jin vowed to normalize weirs on the four rivers, including those on the Geum and Yeongsan rivers. The ministry is scheduled to announce water policies soon to build dams and dredge rivers. River management must not be swayed by politics any longer.

By Korea Herald(khnews@heraldcorp.com)