Gwangju Military Airport Relocation Enters Full Swing: Muan's Mangun-myeon Confirmed as Candidate Site

Muan, Jeollanam-do, has been finalized as the candidate site for the relocation of the Gwangju Military Airport, where the Honam-region semiconductor cluster is set to be established.

The Ministry of National Defense announced today (the 28th) that it held the 2nd Gwangju Military Airport Relocation Site Selection Committee at the ministry's building in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, and voted to designate the area around Mangun-myeon, Muan-gun, as the candidate site.

The ministry explained that this decision was made based on the judgment that both selection criteria of institutional validity and social consensus have been met.

The Ministry of National Defense explained, "As a result of reviewing institutional validity items—such as Air Force operational performance and required permits under relevant laws—by each respective organization, it was confirmed that there are no 'disqualifying' items at this stage. Regarding social consensus, the criteria were met through the 'conditional consent' of Muan County Mayor, the head of the jurisdiction."

With the selection of this candidate site, the Gwangju Military Airport relocation project has entered a full-scale implementation phase.
Meeting with reporters ahead of today's committee meeting, a Ministry of National Defense official remarked, "If Muan-gun is selected as the relocation candidate site, the Gwangju Military Airport relocation project, based on the 'build-transfer' model, will be put on track."

The official explained that starting with the selection of the candidate site, discussions with relevant organizations will enable the formulation of specific support measures for Muan-gun.

Along with pushing forward with subsequent procedures, the government plans to flesh out support measures worth "1 trillion won plus alpha" to promote regional development and support residents in Muan-gun.

In addition to the 1 trillion won in support agreed upon by the six-party consultative body consisting of Gwangju City, Jeollanam-do, Muan-gun, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the government plans to draw up additional state-level support measures.

Furthermore, a relocation project support committee chaired by the Minister for Government Policy Coordination will be established to specify the content and scale of the support projects.

The Ministry of National Defense emphasized, "In accordance with the principle that 'special sacrifices must be followed by special support,' we plan to push ahead responsibly so that the support projects do not remain merely at a declarative level but lead to tangible results."

Accordingly, the subsequent steps will involve drafting a support plan for areas surrounding the relocation site, holding a referendum, going through the Muan County Mayor's application process for hosting based on the results, and finally selecting it as the relocation site.

The government aims to finalize the Gwangju Military Airport relocation site within this year.

The broad framework targets the completion of the Muan military airport by December 2032.

The area around Mangun-myeon in Muan-gun was previously selected as a preliminary candidate site for the Gwangju Military Airport relocation last April.

Since then, the finalization procedure experienced some delays as Muan-gun demanded the concrete fulfillment of "three prior conditions"—including the priority relocation of Gwangju's civilian airport to Muan International Airport, guaranteed support worth 1 trillion won, and groundbreaking state-level incentives—causing it to skip two previous meetings of the relocation site selection committee.

However, as the Gwangju Military Airport site was designated as the location for the Honam-region semiconductor cluster, the need for a swift relocation of the military airport grew, and the deadlock began to break recently after President Lee Jae-myung called for the prompt implementation of the military airport relocation issue during a Cabinet meeting.

In addition, ahead of the relocation to Muan, the military authorities decided to temporarily disperse and station the functions of the 1st Fighter Wing stationed at the Gwangju Military Airport to the Air Force's Yecheon, Seosan, and Jungwon bases by mid-2028 to enable the prompt commencement of construction for the semiconductor cluster.

Minister of National Defense Ahn Gyu-back stated, "This selection of the relocation candidate site is a historic step forward not only for resolving a regional pending issue that has persisted for decades, but also for balanced regional development," adding, "We will proceed with the remaining relocation procedures transparently together with the local residents of Muan-gun."

(Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.