Petition for Jang-Hang Marsh on its way

President Lee Myung-bak had proposed Korea Grand Canal Plan, which I call Korea Death canal, in 2007 presidential election race. From the start, many people showed concern at this coarse plan, and it was finally withdrawn in the wake of broad range of fierce outrage citizen showed in Candlelight protest, 2008. But people cannot help but being held back at the fact that "Development of 4 grand rivers" plan was under its way.

It says that 4 rivers are in serious conditions and needs to be rehabilitated, But we wonder, WHAT KIND OF REHABILITATION PLAN CONSISTS OF 20-FEET-DEEP, 600-FEET-WIDE DREDGING? Government shuts its ear, and like parrots (Sorry, parrots), repeats that there are some misled person who confuses 4 river plans with Canal. They pity us, as hypnotized by Left-wing instigation.

Now Gyeonggi-do launches Gyeong-in Canal, which does not even care to conceal its identity, and plans to destroy one of the richest Bio-resource this country has. Citizen councils of Go-yang united to rise against it. Below are translated, slightly modified version of Petition.

If you have daum.net ID, you are one click away from signing this petition. Log in, Click the link below, fill in blank with appropriate outrage, then Click the blue button. If you don't have an ID, you can visit Cheongwadae website, which is http://cwd.go.kr, and leave an opinion. But those who cannot communicate with Korean language does not seem to understand English right. So, if you please, use Daum Agora petition, or e-mail me at windburial at gmail dot com, with header [Petition for marsh]. I'll collect and relay all those mails to citizens of Go-Yang as much as I can.

20090814 :: Slightly revised a small syntax error and chose different word to clarify meaning.


Original petition can be found at http://agora.media.daum.net/petition/view?id=77111
Original authors of this article is United councils of Go-yang citizens. All copyrights belongs to them, and all the misunderstandings belongs to me.

===== Below is the original petition by them ======

"'Connecting Han-river' plan, which is another name for Korea Grand Canal, must be stopped for future generations. Especially, moving Sin-gok underwater dam towards estuary can never be tolerated."

Mar. 2, Kim Mun-su, provincial governer of Gyeonggi-do, announced that province will invest 22 trillion won(220 billion dollar) in 152 projects, saying: Beyond passive measures for flood and water shortage, We will move people's heart with literary imagination under the slogan "Gyeonggi, go to Hangang, and small cabin build there...", and make it a long term development plan.
Although embroidered with loud words, this is DEFINITELY a plan for Han-river sector of Korea Grand Canal. It is also a massive, thoughtless exploitation that will destruct Han-river water system. Even worse, "Connecting the waterway" implies an environmental devastation of Han-river estuary, and Cutting away the value it has.

Han-river estuary is one of few brackish water zone where salty water and fresh water freely mix to provide an ideal condition for many species. Adding to that, due to military condition, it remained restricted and remained beyond human touch.
It thus became a refuge for species in danger of extinction including: white-naped crane, Black-faced Spoonbill, Kestrel, White-tailed eagle, Common Buzzard, Ranunculus kazusensis. They are strictly protected under S. Korea's legal system. Department of Environment also acknowledges this, and declared that the area be protected, from Sin-gok underwater dam below Gim-po Bridge to Yu-do, approx. 60 square kilometers, in Apr. 17., 2006.

Now Gyeonggi-do plans to install another underwater dam near river mouth, and remove Sin-gok dam, to build a terminal for a ferry and container ships to dock in, claiming that no harm is to be done to environment, in a phoney research papers. But what is really going to happen is not so.


At high tide, salty water covers Jang-hang marsh twice at the speed of 9km/h up the river, and ebbs away at 4~5km/h to form vast intertidal mudflat. Diverse life forms rely on this land, especially on the movement of brackish water flow. Uncountable number of microorganisms prey on fertile organic nutritions, acting as a kideny of nature. No artificial complex, how many of them working together, can substitute it.

And, various species now in peril of extinction live on marsh mudflat as it hunts and breeds. Every February and March, enormous amount of clam worms swam to marsh to breed, and seagulls who hunts them make a spectacular landscape.

If Sin-gok underwater dam is placed towards estuary, the water stream is blocked and marsh is flooded. All those life is deprived of its home and must flee, never to be seen again. Lives of Largest Willow grove in Korea and its commensal Sesarma dehaani is also severely compromised.

Flooded roots start to rot and tree dies, and its shadow and nutritious leaves disappear, risking the crabs, all of which lived happily with symbiotic relationship with willow grove. Circle of Carbon Dioxide absorption is also broken. All those 'Carbon-friendly-smog-colored-growth' even contradict government's own 'Green Growth' plan.

And it is just for that ferry terminal, or for freight shipping dock. We must point out that this is a mere beginning of Korea Grand Canal, because
1. Gyeong-in canal is a part of "Han-river renaissance", which plans to use Han-river as waterway for large vessels.
2. Plans for exploitation of Yangpyeong-Yeoju-Chungju line is ready to be launched. It leads Han-river into ChungCheong-do, which is below Gyeonggi-do.
3. Gyeonggi-do's plan is to connect and rebuild all Han-river waterways for it to be ideal for ships.
4. Then Ships can freely sail from Yellow sea into ChungCheong District, which is at the center of South Korea. This completes a part of the Korea Grand Canal, which Lee Myung-bak said to withdraw last year.

Jang-hang Marsh, which is a treasure we borrowed from our future generations, must not suffer. Everyone needs to stand up against Gyeonggi-do's reckless plans to finish a puzzle piece for Gyeong-in Canal, Han-river canal.

For that, we now stand to gather 10,000 to sign this petition and show them our will to protect Jang-hang Marsh as it is now.

2009. 7. 16
United Civilian councils of Go-yang.
82-31-921-7001