Convince local residents of the need for dams

The central government must convince local
communities with all of its efforts. But the government does not seem so desperate.

Suh Kyung-hoThe author is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo. I made a visit to the Hwacheon Peace Dam, Gangwon, last month. With a maximum storage capacity of 2.6 billion tons, it ranks third in terms of maximum storage size after the Soyanggang Dam (2.9 billion tons) and the Chungju Dam (2.75 billion tons). But the Peace Dam was nearly empty because it’s a dam with no power generation or water storage facilities.

Many people are reminded of the Chun Doo Hwan regime’s deception of the public when they think of the “Peace Dam.” In 1986, the military government announced that North Korea was preparing to build the Geumgangsan Dam — now known as the Imnam Dam — to sabotage the 1988 Seoul Olympics by flooding the South Korean capital city with 20 billion tons of water. At that time, broadcasters aired an image of the 63 Building in Yeouido submerging nearly half of its height.

The government claimed that South Korea needed to build a dam to counter North Korea’s flood attack and a massive fundraising campaign was launched. Construction began the following year and the first stage of the dam was completed in 1989. About 170 billion won ($126.6 million), including 63.9 billion won of public donations, was spent.

Since then, the project suffered many twists and turns. An audit in 1993 by the Board of Audit and Inspection in the Kim Young-sam administration revealed that the Chun administration had exaggerated the North’s threats.

But the Peace Dam was resurrected after its bitter past. The dam played a key role in flood control during the monstrous floods in 1996 and Typhoon Olga in 1999, preventing the Hwacheon Dam in the downstream areas of the Bukhan River from overflowing.

In 2002, North Korea abruptly released an enormous amount of waters from its reservoirs to repair the Kumgangsan Dam, dropping a water bomb on the South. But the Peace Dam could defend the country. Later that year, the Kim Dae-jung administration decided to carry out the second stage of construction to raise the dam’s height from 80 meters (262 feet) to 125 meters with reinforcement. The project was completed in 2005.

The construction of the dam, started by a dictatorial government’s security, was completed by a liberal government. A sign at the Peace Dam Observation Center reads, “It may seem ironic that the Peace Dam, whose construction started during the Fifth Republic [the Chun administration], was completed by the Roh Moo-hyun administration after the Kim Dae-jung administration. But the Peace Dam has been faithfully fulfilling its role as a watchman to protect the people from the threat of the Imnam Dam’s possible collapse …”

The Peace Dam has gained the spotlight again after the Ministry of Environment announced a plan to build dams to counter climate change. Local residents opposing the construction of the Suipcheon Dam with its water storage capacity of 100 million tons — the largest of the 14 planned dams to be built to defend against climate disasters — proposed that the Peace Dam be used as an alternative instead of building a new dam. The ministry already considered the possibility but concluded that it was impossible given inter-Korean relations. The Peace Dam is located near the Civilian Control Line at the northernmost area of the Bukhan River. But filling the empty dam with water could result in a large swath of submerged land on the North Korean side, so it was not considered as an option.

As I interviewed local residents in Yanggu County about the new dam construction project, I realized that their distrust in the government runs deeper than I thought. Although the government offered to avoid submerging the famous ecotourism destination, Dutayeon, local residents didn’t trust it. The government also used digital twin technology to convince them of no environmental impact from the dam construction, but the locals didn’t trust the data. The government also proposed to spend more money to help restore the local economy, but the people didn’t listen. That’s because of the bitter memories from the Soyanggang Dam. The Gangwon Institute estimated that the damage caused by the construction of the dam amounted to 6.83 trillion to 10.15 trillion won over the past 50 years.

We agree with the government’s analysis that climate-resilient dams are needed to prepare for floods and extreme droughts caused by climate change and support national strategic industries like semiconductors. As water is scarce, we need a larger reservoir. But it is impossible to build a dam without the consent of local residents these days. Not only dams but also the construction of electricity transmission and distribution grids also require persuading residents and local governments, as the recent case in Hanam City shows.

Just like the power grid bill pending in the legislature — which has assigned an active role to the central government, including the prime minister — dam construction must be actively coordinated by the prime minister beyond the Ministry of Environment. At the same time, the central government must convince local communities with all of its efforts. But the government does not seem so desperate.