Airport may be built on Ulleung Island

Korea has taken a wide range of measures over the years to bolster its sovereignty over the Dokdo islets in the East Sea against Japan’s repeated claims over them.

In a bid to further solidify its ownership of the disputed territory, the government has decided to revive a plan to build an airport on nearby Ulleung Island by 2017. This is hoped to help attract more visitors to Dokdo and improve logistics conditions there.

If realized, it would take only about two hours to reach Dokdo from Seoul. Currently, the journey takes at least seven hours by road and sea.

The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said Wednesday that an economic feasibility study concerning the construction of the airport will be completed by the end of September.

“We asked the Korea Development Institute last December to conduct the feasibility test on the envisioned Ulleung Airport. The report will come out this month,’’ an official at the ministry’s airport policy division said. “We expect the study will prove that building and operating the airport makes sense economically.’’

In 2010, the ministry unveiled a construction plan for an airport whose runway would be 1.2 kilometer-long and 150 meter-wide, costing about 640 billion won ($590 million) to build.

But the Ministry of Strategy and Finance opposed the scheme at the time, citing low economic feasibility.

“Under our revised plan, the government will build a 1.1-kilometer-long and 80 meter-wide runway costing 500 billion won. A rise in the number of visitors to Dokdo over the past two years certainly helps make the construction scheme more attractive,’’ the official said.

“We are confident that the project will prove to be economically viable and be worth spending large amounts of taxpayers’ money,’’ he said.

Ulleung County projects that over 500,000 tourists will visit the island on their way to Dokdo this year, up from 350,000 in 2011, thanks largely to growing public interest in the islets after President Lee Myung-bak’s unprecedented visit there last month.

The ministry said once completed, it will take little more than an hour for a passenger plane to fly to Ulleung from Gimpo Airport, west of Seoul.

It said if everything proceeds as planned the government will complete the envisioned airport for aircraft carrying up to 60 passengers by the end of 2017.

“The planned airport will significantly increase the number of tourists to Ulleung Island and the nearby Dokdo Islets. Currently, those who visit the islands have to take a ferry from Pohang and remain onboard for hours. Due to high waves and strong winds, it is not a pleasant experience,” said another ministry official familiar with the issue.

He said besides boosting the number of visitors to Dokdo, it will also improve the logistics situation for these remote islands. “The airport will make it easier for the government to transport not only supplies to those who reside on the islands, but also military personnel and weapons if needed.’’ <The Korea Times/Lee Hyo-sik>

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