Panel reverses Moon gov't decision to dismantle or open river weirs

유청모 / 2023-08-04 14:46:02

river weirs-decision reversal

▲ This file photo shows the Seungchon Weir on the Yeongsan River in southwestern South Korea. (Yonhap)

river weirs-decision reversal

Panel reverses Moon gov't decision to dismantle or open river weirs

SEOUL, Aug. 4 (Yonhap) -- A presidential panel on Friday scrapped the preceding government's decision to dismantle or open two river weirs.

The Presidential Water Commission (PWC) said it has decided to reverse its decision, reached during the Moon Jae-in presidency in January 2021, to dismantle the Baekje Weir on the Geum River in central South Korea and open the Seungchon Weir at all times on the Yeongsan River in the southwestern region.

The reversal of the prior decision has come as there were problems in its past decision-making process, the commission said, adding it asked the Ministry of Environment to change the national water management basic plan in accordance with the latest decision.

A weir refers to a low barrier built across a river in order to control and direct the flow of water. Baekje and Seungchon are among the 16 weirs built on the nation's four major rivers -- Geum, Yeongsan, Nakdong and Han rivers -- during the conservative administration of Lee Myung-bak, who served as president from 2008 to 2013, in a bid to combat water scarcity, improve water quality and restore river ecosystems.

But the liberal Moon administration criticized the four rivers project as too costly and for worsening water quality and spreading harmful green tides and drastically revised key parts of the project.

The PWC's latest decision was anticipated as the state audit agency said last month that a biased and hasty evaluation was used in the Moon government's decision on dismantling some river weirs.

Wrapping up its 2 1/2-year inspection, the Board of Audit and Inspection concluded on July 20 that 25 out of 43 expert members of the four rivers project evaluation committee set up by the Moon government were recommended by a civic group opposing the project.

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