‘The Four Major Rivers Restoration Project” was issued in 2008 What is the political argument and background? Who does this project and who will have the
most benefit? Before we find the answers, we have to know why the government
is doing this national project, so we will know what makes this become the talk of nation.

▲ The Hae-pyeong wetland has been destroyed by construction.

 This national project is aimed at improving the water quality and restoring the ecosystem in Han River (including Bukhan and Namhan River), Nakdong,
Geum and Yeongsan Rivers. What is the purpose of doing this project? The Ministry of Land, Transportation and Maritime Affairs(MLTM) said “First, the project aims to improve the positive functions of the rivers including floods and drought control. This project also aims to provide a ‘Green Space’ for citizens of Korea and stable water resources and supply of clean water.” Now we check the ground of approval and disapproval about this project!

▲ The four major rivers restoration project has proceeded in Nakdong River.

What about the side of approval? - Reference to the web site of MLTM, The Four major rivers restoration project is urban business It is not for canal business.

Preventing floods damage can be solved by digging out some of the dirt in rivers and building a dam or beam. The new beam will be able to open and shut fully or partly, so it helps to maintain the effective water resources as well as
deposits unlike the previous built in beam. In addition, it is expected to promote employmetn and to boost industry. 

A supporting argument was completely in accord with government policy. Supporters of this project strongly expressed their idea that the four major rivers which were polluted and abandoned can be restored. They also made a strong denial about the canal project, because restoration project was different from the canal project. If this project was for the canal project, the government should make the rivers in a straight line. In other words, they insist that it will help to prevent floods and develop water resources while maintaining the shape of
the naturally occurring rivers. Also they said “More and more regional torrential
rain has happened repeatedly, so we need to manage water resources economically.”

What about the disapproval? - Reference to the information which environmental experts and religious group researched,
 - There have not been any records of floods for years in four major rivers,
so we don’t understand building beams “We think this is not a restoration
project but a step for the canal project”

Most of the opposition said "We don't understand why government is doing a
restoration project for preventing floods because there have not been any records
of floods for years in four major rivers. The major rivers already had enough
ability to prepare for floods so there is no statistics about flooding after 1980. The government absolutely said this project will be done with staying the shape of the naturally occurring rivers, but now four major rivers had already been destroyed by pouring cement for building the dike. Actually the water quality of places which store water was the worst in Korea, for example the dike of Nakdong River and the beam of Jamsil dong. Therefore building dikes and beams in rivers makes water resources worsen more than before.

An expected effect, the government said this was expected to promote employment and to revive the local economy by choosing the regional construction firms. However recently the companies participated in this project were not regional construction firms but major construction firms. Lastly, when this
national project is over, the construction worker will worry about where they go
to get a new job. These measures will not contribute to a fundamental solution
about unemployment.

▲ The four major rivers is flowing with its pristine environment.

You can acknowledge why conflict is between pro and contra from the above
contents. This dispute was begun after the opposing forces said like “We don’t
trust the present government because the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project
was not matched with their assertion and purpose as compared with truth,” "There is not any national consensus about this, it seems that government does the canal business surreptitiously.” Lately, there are strong arguments about this dispute after the program of MBC, <PD’s Note> was not aired.

From the above paragraph, you can see the different opinion of the ruling party
and the opposition party. Of course, the contra’s position was based on professional knowledge which experts found. Anyway, DKH suddenly wondered what those who live near major rivers think about this national project. So DKH visited an amusement park near Nakdong River. We interviewed a merchant who runs his own restaurant near river.

Q: Where do you stand on the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project between approval and disapproval?

At first, I agreed with this project because the administration tried to purchase
the land where our business areas are. But now I don't care about it, neither for nor against this national project. As soon as seeing the compesation, my little hope was gone because I realized that I can’t pick out a site with the level of
compensation. I just have a worry about if I get the compensation where I should go or if not what I should do here for my family's livelihood. This seems like a story like fairy tales to us whatever happens to rivers and whoever quarrels over this. We don’t have anything much bigger than preparation for my later years and the costs of college.

Q: What has happened in this amusement park after this project was
started?

You know, the Nakdong River has been much murkier than last year so naturally
those who enjoy aquatic sports don't want to come here anymore. Also tourists don't want to eat hot fish stew which was made from freshwater fishes. In this situation, most of merchants were depressed and didn't know what to do. I am not sure what government said is right for the local economy. 

▲ Two pictures means the bird's-eye view of Namhan and Geum rivers after the four major rivers restoration project was done.

We could see clearly that merchants of the amusement park next to Nakdong River connected the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project with their ‘bread and
butter’ and business more than political conflict. It contained much more sense of
reality comparing the opposition and the ruling party are arguing each other using the objective and numerical value of data. During the interview, we had some questions in our mind: who is this project that the government is struggling to carry out for? We felt that all this disturbance was just a way for both parties to gain advantage in the political field. If one of the principal reasons of this project was to revive regional economies, the government should not have concern about the merchants that make a living near the river. It seems to be another way to gain fortune for who has ‘fortune.’ At the same time, we wondered what has really been done by the party that opposed the project. We felt that they just 'opposed' to it. Wasn't is a fight for nothing during several years without any specific solution for merchants and the ecological environment of four major rivers that both parties have been arguing for? And don't you think the four major rivers themselves have lost too many things during that time?

Anyway, the opinion about the controversy is up to you. As you can see through as example of Gyeongbu Expressway for land development that there were many arguments at that time, we still couldn’t find an exact answer for
it. Therefore, the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project will be hard to evaluate
if it is right or wrong, will succeed or fail. Whether you agree or disagree with
the national project, what people can do right now is maybe to protect the four
major rivers before they get into a critical situation than they have already gone
thoroughly.