Muan County Notifies Committee It Will Boycott Meeting to Select New Military Airport Site

Muan County, a preliminary candidate site for the relocation of the Gwangju military airport located in the South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City, has notified authorities that it will again boycott the selection committee meeting scheduled for the 28th. The Ministry of National Defense selected an area in Muan County's Mangun-myeon as a preliminary candidate site in April. Following its absence from a Ministry-led meeting on the 30th of last month, Muan County notified officials on the 24th that it would also not attend the meeting on the 28th.

Muan County had cited three preconditions for its absence last month: the prior relocation of Gwangju's civilian airport to Muan International Airport, 1 trillion won in support from the South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City and the central government, and the provision of groundbreaking incentives at the national level. However, after the government finalized the Gwangju military airport site as a location for the Honam region semiconductor mega-cluster earlier this month, the county promised to attend the meeting, only to switch its stance back to boycotting it.

When Muan County boycotted the meeting last month, it stated it would attend following the government's announcement on the semiconductor cluster designation. Consequently, interest is focused on the background behind this latest notification of absence. The South Jeolla-Gwangju Integrated Special City stated it aims to persuade Muan County to attend the meeting before the five-way council meeting is held.