A ruling is scheduled on Feb. 12 in the appellate trial over the lawsuit to cancel the site decision for the Mapo Resource Recovery Facility (trash incinerator). Depending on the decision that day, observers say the conflict between Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Mapo District Chief Park Kang-su, who clasped hands to start the new year, could reignite.
According to the legal community and local governments on the 19th, the Seoul High Court will hand down a ruling on Feb. 12 in the lawsuit to cancel the site decision for the Mapo Resource Recovery Facility. This comes a little over a year after the first-trial ruling on Jan. 10 last year, with a second-trial ruling now due.
At the time, the first-trial court found that "there were procedural defects in the formation of the incinerator site selection committee and in the process of selecting a specialized research institution for the feasibility study," and determined that the decision to build a trash incinerator in Sangam-dong, Mapo District, "must be canceled."
In the meantime, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Mapo District Chief Park Kang-su have clashed over the incinerator site issue. The two showed a conciliatory stance at the start of the new year.
At Mapo District's New Year's gathering this year, Mayor Oh said, "Even just stepping into Mapo's boundary has always made me tense because of the Mapo Resource Recovery Facility issue, and I feel only apologetic to residents," adding, "Going forward, we will put our heads together with Mapo District to make sure Mapo residents do not suffer any disadvantages because of this issue and will surely find a wise solution." Mayor Oh and District Chief Park also clasped hands at the New Year's event that day.
The lawsuit began in 2023 when about 1,800 Mapo residents filed to cancel the incinerator site decision against Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and others.
Seoul City, under the Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Promotion of Waste Management Facilities (old enforcement decree), drew up a plan on Apr. 20, 2020 to form and operate the site selection committee. Then, on Dec. 4 of that year, it drafted a "plan to appoint committee members and hold the first meeting," and three days later, on Dec. 7, sent an official letter to the 10 appointees requesting their attendance at the "Dec. 15 appointment ceremony and meeting." The Commissioners actually received their appointment letters at the meeting that day.
Mapo residents argued that "the Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Promotion of Waste Management Facilities was revised on Dec. 10, 2020, but the old decree was followed instead of the revised one, making the composition of the committee unlawful," and filed suit. They said the law was misapplied because the committee was formed after Dec. 10.
The court also sided with the Mapo residents. The first-trial panel said, "Seoul City argues that the committee was established on Dec. 4, 2020, but that was merely a designation of Commissioners."
If Seoul City ultimately loses in the Supreme Court, the situation could become serious, because the incinerator site selection process would have to start over from the beginning. If it wins, it could speed toward the goal of beginning operations in 2032.
The immediate issue is the "ban on direct landfilling of municipal waste in the capital area" coming as early as next year. Under the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment policy, trash cannot be buried starting next year. A Seoul City official said, "If the incinerator is not built on time, a garbage crisis will become a reality, with about 900 tons (t) of Seoul's trash having nowhere to go."