Muan, South Jeolla Province, has been confirmed as the candidate site for the relocation of the Gwangju Military Airport, where the Honam region semiconductor cluster will be established.

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

The Ministry of National Defense explained that this decision was made based on the assessment that both selection criteria for the relocation candidate site—institutional feasibility and social consensus—were met.

The ministry stated, "As a result of reviewing matters requiring institutional feasibility and statutory permits by relevant agencies regarding Air Force operational performance, it was confirmed that there are no 'impossible' items at this stage. In terms of social consensus, the requirement was met through the 'conditional consent' of the head of the competent local government, the Muan-gun mayor."

With the selection of this candidate site, the Gwangju Military Airport relocation project has entered a full-fledged implementation phase.

Speaking to reporters ahead of today's selection 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 (grant-in-aid) business model, will gain full momentum."

The official explained that starting with the selection of the candidate site, discussions will be held with related organizations to establish specific support plans for Muan-gun.

Along with pushing forward with follow-up procedures, the government plans to flesh out a support package worth "1 trillion won + alpha" for regional development and resident support in Muan-gun.

In addition to the 1 trillion won scale support agreed upon by the six-party consultative body consisting of Gwangju City, South Jeolla Province, 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 formulate 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 sacrifice must be followed by special support,' we plan to responsibly push forward with the support projects so that they lead to substantive outcomes rather than remaining at a declarative level."

Consequently, subsequent steps will follow, including establishing a support plan for areas surrounding the relocation site, holding a referendum, going through the procedure for the Muan-gun mayor to apply for hosting based on the results, and ultimately selecting the final relocation site.

The government plans to finalize the relocation site for the Gwangju Military Airport within the year.

The broad framework aims to complete the Muan military airport construction by December 2032.

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

Since then, the confirmation procedure for the relocation candidate site experienced some delays as Muan-gun twice boycotted the relocation site selection committee meetings, demanding the specific implementation of "three major preconditions": the priority relocation of the Gwangju civilian airport to Muan International Airport, guaranteed support worth 1 trillion won, and groundbreaking state-level incentives.

However, as the Gwangju Military Airport site was designated as the location for the Honam region semiconductor cluster, the need for the swift relocation of the military airport grew, and the deadlock began to break recently after President Lee Jae-myung called for the prompt execution 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 Air Force 1st Fighter Wing, currently stationed at the Gwangju Military Airport, to the Air Force 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 transparently proceed with the remaining relocation procedures together with the local residents of Muan-gun."

(Photo: Yonhap News)