Candidates cause stir with vow to 'relocate' Gimpo airport

• Published date: 30 May 2022
• Publication title: The Korea Times

By Kwon Mee-yooGimpo International Airport, the only commercial airport in Seoul, is becoming a heated issue in the June 1 local elections as Lee Jae-myung, the main opposition liberal Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) candidate running in a by-election for Incheon's Gyeyang District B, has pledged to "relocate" the airport in order to lift development restrictions for the region west of Seoul.Originally built as a military airport in the 1930s during the Japanese colonial period, Gimpo International Airport served as Korea's main air gateway until Incheon International Airport opened in 2001. Currently, the airport is mainly used for domestic flights and some short- and medium-distance international flights due to its proximity to Seoul.

International flights have been suspended for over two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but will resume next month. Lee, who ran in the March 9 presidential election and lost by a narrow margin, pledged to close Gimpo International Airport and move its operations to other airports, as it currently affects the height restrictions on buildings in the Incheon area and other regions bordering the airport.

Lee insisted that Incheon International Airport can absorb the flights taking off and landing at Gimpo and that Gyeyang District should be developed along with the western part of Seoul as well as neighboring Gimpo City of Gyeonggi Province, which are underdeveloped compared to other parts of the Seoul metropolitan area. Lee's plan also includes express trains for the capital region connecting Seoul and Incheon International Airport, which is about 50 kilometers away from the capital, faster.

About 70 percent of Gimpo's domestic flights are between Seoul and Jeju Island, Korea's favorite domestic holiday destination, which complicates the issue far beyond the Seoul metropolitan area.Song Young-gil, the former DPK chairman and Seoul mayoral...