2024-01-23 12:50:07
Daegu Mayor Hong Jun-pyo is being interviewed by the Maeil Business Newspaper on the 17th. On this day, Mayor Hong emphasized the need for balanced regional development. Daegu Reporter Seunghwan Lee When the special law exempting the preliminary feasibility study for the ‘Moonlight Railroad Project’ connecting Daegu and Gwangju was not submitted to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly this month, cries bordering on anger poured out in Daegu and Gwangju. Regarding this project, which will cost around 8 trillion won, one side criticizes it as “populism in exempting from preliminary taxation,” while the other side counters that it is “the logic of not doing local social overhead capital (SOC) projects at all.” This newspaper has reported on this issue from the perspective that ‘Yeta is essential’, but this cannot mean that it ignores the opposing opinions. The ‘Moonlight Railroad’ is a point where perspectives on national land development in the era of regional extinction collide, and our society must be able to draw lessons that everyone can empathize with from this conflict.
On the 17th, we met with Mayor Hong Jun-pyo at Daegu City Hall and heard his opinion representing the logic of the Moonlight Railroad’s preliminary tax exemption.
-Except for Daegu and Gwangju, the rest of the region does not fully agree with the Moonlight Railroad pre-tax exemption.
▷When considering the economic feasibility of local SOC projects, there is nothing that local areas can do. Only members of the metropolitan area can do this (pass the pre-test). If we try to meet the current YETA standards, all SOC facilities will have no choice but to be concentrated in the metropolitan area. That is why the term “fat disappearance” comes out. Since all SOC facilities, including medical and educational facilities, are concentrated in the metropolitan area, people from local areas move to Seoul. Is this phenomenon really correct?
-Balanced development is good, but economic feasibility cannot be ignored.
▷All of Korea’s railway networks are centered around Seoul. It has been 30 years since we called for balanced national development, but except for the route from Seoul to Gangwon-do, there is no railway connecting east and west. Do you think this makes sense? How on earth can we achieve balanced development?
-Why is the Moonlight Railroad necessary?
▷It must be viewed in conjunction with the Daegu Gyeongbuk New Airport. Last year, when a drone flew by at Incheon International Airport, aircraft operations were banned for 48 minutes. Incheon Airport is within the range of North Korea’s long-range artillery. In order to wage war in an emergency, medium to large-sized transport planes must fly in to bring in war materials, but if Incheon Airport is hit by long-range artillery, the skyway is blocked. Daegu Gyeongbuk New Airport is most suitable as a ‘security airport’ to replace Incheon Airport. Also, 98% of people now go abroad through Incheon Airport. If you want to go overseas from Jeolla-do or Gyeongsang-do to Europe or the Americas, you must get to Incheon Airport a day in advance, and even if you go on the same day, you must depart early in the morning. If there is a long-distance airport in the rear, there is no reason for people from Jeolla-do, Gyeongsang-do, and Chungcheong-do to go to Incheon. Once the Moonlight Railroad is connected, Daegu-Gyeongbuk New Airport can replace Incheon Airport and also serve as a rear security and economic airport.
-Public opinion is not always good regarding local airports.
▷In 2006, I went to Chengdu International Airport in Sichuan Province, China. At that time, Chengdu International Airport was more rural than Gimhae Airport. Now, Chengdu City has become the center of China’s high-tech industry, with air routes to Europe, South America, and the Americas opened thanks to Chengdu International Airport. In the past, Sichuan Province was one of the remotest regions in China, but China’s high-tech industries flocked to Sichuan Province and Chengdu became one of China’s four largest cities. It’s all thanks to the airport. Until the 1980s, the basic axis of economic development was highways. Now it’s an airport. The proportion of air cargo is 36%. Most of Korea’s air cargo is transported through Incheon Airport. Therefore, high-tech industries do not spread south of the metropolitan area. Building airports in rural areas will help not only in terms of security, but also in terms of the economy. Naturally, industrial relocation leads to balanced development of the country and absorption of risks in the metropolitan area. Because they sit there without thinking regarding such things and insist that they should not be exempted from preliminary testing, the Republic of Korea is like this.
-Wouldn’t it be difficult to simply compare it with China, which is at a different stage of economic development?
▷If the Moonlight Railroad is built, you can get to Daegu-Gyeongbuk New Airport in just one hour, but will the 5 million passengers and logistics from the Honam region reach Incheon? There is no choice but to come to Daegu-Gyeongbuk New Airport. A huge southern economic bloc will be created. Yeta does not take these future economic effects into account. Is that all? The tangible and intangible losses of the entire Republic of Korea resulting from the Yeonghon-Honam conflict are not taken into account. The moonlight railway must be built unconditionally simply because of the effect of easing conflicts by tying Yeongnam and Honam into a common economic zone. If you follow the logic I mentioned, the cost-benefit (B/C) value of the Moonlight Railway exceeds 1, making it economical. This is if we review all the passenger logistics flocking to Daegu Gyeongbuk New Airport.
-Wouldn’t it be possible to design a prototype like that?
▷It’s because of time. It is important to build the Moonlight Railway in time for the opening of Daegu-Gyeongbuk New Airport in 2030. There is no way to know how many years it will take to do preliminary testing. Look at past governments. During the Lee Myung-bak administration, 61 trillion won was exempted, during the Park Geun-hye administration, KRW 25 trillion, and under the Moon Jae-in administration, KRW 120 trillion were exempted. The South Inland Railway connecting Gimcheon, Gyeongsangbuk-do and Geoje, Gyeongsangnam-do was exempted from preliminary inspection during the Moon Jae-in administration. It is a project with much less preliminary data than the Moonlight Railway, but no one raised any objections. It is said that the debt increased during the Moon Jae-in administration due to many pre-tax exemptions, but that is not because they distributed cash to all citizens. What did the Ministry of Strategy and Finance do when the Moon Jae-in administration exempted 120 trillion won in pre-tax payments? I don’t know why the civil servants who were quiet at the time were so opposed to the Moonlight Railroad. The Moonlight Railroad is a pledge made by both People Power Party candidate Yoon Seok-yeol and Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung during the last presidential election.
-Do you think the preliminary examination system needs to be changed?
▷That’s right. Even if preliminary testing is conducted, the standards for the metropolitan area and local areas must be different. Evaluation of the qualitative factors of balanced national development should be the first standard.
-What is the voice like from Gwangju?
▷70% of the Moonlight Railroad routes are in Jeolla-do. Gwangju is much more desperate than us. Even by political party, the Democratic Party is more active. The leadership of our party (People Power Party) shows a behavior of blocking bills they have proposed. This applies to all 261 lawmakers who proposed special laws. What kind of National Assembly member is that? Such a person should not be appointed as a basic doctor. With people like that sitting as members of the National Assembly, is there any way for the National Assembly to function normally? You have to take responsibility for the initiative. He should not run in the next general election.
-What did you think of the mega city plan that the ruling party came up with last year?
▷This is nonsense. Did Seoul fail to develop because it did not merge nearby cities and counties? Seoul is still a mega city. Is it normal to try to absorb all nearby cities and counties by offering carrots such as increased real estate prices, school districts, and transportation benefits? This is a shallow act aimed at winning the election. That is not balanced national development. Look at what’s happening in Seoul now. There is a subway, and GTX (Metropolitan Rapid Transit) is also being built, and all national budgets are being invested only in the metropolitan area. They say that if you leave the provinces alone and try to do something in the provinces, you will definitely not be able to do it. This is how the country develops abnormally.
-Is there no way to revitalize the Republic of Korea beyond the issue of balanced development?
▷The background for our country’s leap forward to becoming a middle-income country is the promotion of heavy and chemical industries during the era of President Park Chung-hee. Since then, the country has surpassed the threshold of advanced countries by fostering semiconductor and high-tech industries. We are now at that breaking point. Unless the industry is reorganized to focus on high value-added industries such as artificial intelligence (AI) or bio, it will be difficult to take a leap forward. If things continue like this, an era of zero growth will soon come. Industrial reorganization is urgent.
-Politics is important.
▷In the past, things changed as those in power presented a direction, established policies in that direction, and supported businesses. After democratization, it has become difficult to see people running the country designing and supporting national competitiveness.
-Why is the political space narrowing?
▷Once in power, instead of drawing a blueprint to turn the country into an advanced country, all time is spent on confrontation between left and right. The most important virtue of a political leader is insight. The English word for insight is insight and foresight. Insight is the ability to coolly analyze current problems, and foresight is insight. However, since President Roh Moo-hyun, no leader has had proper insight. Once in power, there will be five years of conflict between the left and the right. It’s been over 20 years since that happened. Energy should be used for the future of the Republic of Korea, but we are stuck in the conflict between camps and cannot move. So, it is confusing and the country has no direction.
-Not long ago, CEO Lee Jae-myung made a statement that seemed to defend all of Seoul National University Hospital, causing controversy.
▷The essence of the incident is terrorism. Going to Seoul National University Hospital is not the point. It is up to the person involved to decide which hospital to receive treatment at. Talking regarding preferential treatment over that is mean-spirited.
-Daegu-Gyeongbuk feels more isolated from central attention and support than Busan-Gyeongnam.
▷Busan is a ‘swing boater’ and Daegu and Gyeongbuk are not. What can I do?
Mayor Hong Jun-pyo
△Born in Changnyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do in 1954 △Graduated from Yeongnam High School in Daegu in 1972 △Graduated from Korea University College of Law, Department of Public Administration in 1978 △Passed the 24th Bar Examination △Member of the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th National Assembly △Floor Leader of the Grand National Party in 2008 △Representative of the Grand National Party in 2011 △ Governor of South Gyeongsang Province from 2012 to 2017 △ First Representative of the Liberty Korea Party in 2017 △ 21st National Assembly Member △ Mayor of Daegu Metropolitan City in 2022
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