The Yoon Suk-yeol administration's plan to build "14 multipurpose dams" was halted a little over a year after its launch. The Environment Ministry said it will stop construction at 7 of the 14 planned sites and decide whether to proceed with the remaining 7 after a public debate and basic planning process.
Experts acknowledged that the planned dams are not large enough to adequately respond to floods and droughts, but said they could help in terms of securing water resources. They also warned that if water resources policy is reversed every time the administration changes, it could cause confusion in industry.
The Environment Ministry said on the 30th that it decided to halt construction at 7 of the 14 planned new dam sites where the need is low and resident opposition is strong. The seven are: ▲ Suipecheon Dam (Yanggu) ▲ Danyangcheon Dam (Danyang) ▲ Okcheon Dam (Suncheon) ▲ Dongbokcheon Dam (Hwasun) ▲ Sanggicheon Dam (Samcheok) ▲ Unmuncheon Dam (Cheongdo) ▲ Yongducheon Dam (Yecheon).
The remaining seven were deemed to require a review of alternatives such as scrapping the dams, converting them to flood-control dams, additional river maintenance, and installing floodgates first. The ministry plans to decide the final course after establishing a basic plan and going through a public debate process. The Environment Ministry projected that by scaling back the plan, the total project cost would fall from about 4.7 trillion won to around 2 trillion won.
Behind the ministry's decision is the assessment that these dams are "insufficient to be viewed as large-scale flood and drought countermeasures to address the climate crisis." Environment Minister Kim Seong-hwan said, "The 14 new dams pursued under the name of climate-response dams were in fact too small to respond to floods and droughts," adding, "It was also confirmed that the plans were rushed without resident consent."
Earlier, the Environment Ministry pushed for new dam construction under the banner of preventing typhoon and flood damage, but ended up scrapping its own plan in just one year. This is not the first time dam construction policy has been reversed like this. Dam policy has undergone drastic changes whenever the government has changed.
The Lee Myung-bak administration pursued the Four Major Rivers Project in 2009 at a cost of 22 trillion won and in 2012 announced a "long-term dam construction plan," signaling a major expansion of dams. The subsequent Park Geun-hye administration mentioned the need for dam construction but halted some dam projects by reflecting local residents' opinions. The subsequent Moon Jae-in administration in 2018 formalized a halt to state-led large dam construction and canceled 12 of the 14 planned projects, except for the Wonju and Bonghwa dams.
The Yoon Suk-yeol administration then shifted course again. In July 2024, the Environment Ministry announced it would relaunch construction of 14 new dams. Former Minister Han Hwa-jin mentioned resuming river dredging and dam construction, and former Minister Kim Wan-seop also showed strong determination to push ahead. However, after the administration changed, the Lee Jae-myung government declared a comprehensive reexamination of the plan, saying, "Even if all 14 dams are combined, their capacity is only 320 million tons, or 11% of Soyang River Dam, so the actual effect in responding to floods and droughts is insufficient."
Experts offered mixed assessments on the effectiveness of building multipurpose dams, but pointed out that the vicious cycle of water resources policy being overturned with each change of administration is a problem.
Yu Cheol-sang, president of the Korean Society of Water and Wastewater (professor in the School of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering at Korea University), said, "I believe we should push small dams with residents' consent and, with the mindset that this is the last time, build large dams for the purpose of responding to the climate crisis," adding, "Because promoting large dams has not been easy, relatively less efficient small dams have been pursued." He added, "If policy swings widely every time the administration changes, it inevitably causes confusion across industry and the economy and inflicts damage."
Kwon Hyeon-han, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Sejong University, said, "Water, like electricity, is not a resource that can be responded to immediately after an incident (drought or water shortage)," noting, "We need to secure multiple sources in parallel, including primary and supplementary water sources and agricultural reservoirs." He emphasized, "Even if the administration changes, we should focus on social consensus and long-term plans to secure water sources."