Public sentiment in Muan County, South Jeolla, is roiling. Following the issue of the Gwangju military airport transfer, word that an artificial intelligence (AI) data center will be built near a living area dense with large apartment complexes and schools has led to pushback that "only undesirable facilities are being foisted on the area."
After the bid to attract a medical school to National Mokpo University fell through recently, the matter of the main government complex also surfaced during the Gwangju–South Jeolla administrative integration process, prompting some to raise a "SuNAM region bypass" argument.
◇Data center 250 meters from apartments and a school… "Why here?"
On the 3rd, posts opposing the construction of the Oryong District data center were posted one after another on Muan County's website section "What we ask of the county governor." This follows the submission in July of an application for a building permit for a 200 MW (megawatt) data center at Support Block 7, Oryong-ri, Illo-eup, Muan County. The project site is 37,695.2 square meters (about 11,403 pyeong), with a total floor area of 85,667 square meters (about 25,914 pyeong), across three buildings.
What residents particularly take issue with is the location. Large apartment complexes and schools are situated near the planned site, and according to residents, the distance between these facilities and the data center site is only about 250 to 500 meters. They are concerned about the power consumption of a data center operating 24 hours a day and potential noise and heat from cooling and power generation equipment.
The schedule for the residents' briefing that Muan County will hold at 4:30 p.m. on the 8th is also contentious. Some residents say it is "a time that office workers find hard to attend," or that "it overlaps with children's pick-up time," pushing back against it.
The Muan County Council also adopted on the 2nd a "Resolution urging opposition to the construction of the Oryong District large-scale data center and denial of the building permit." The county council urged Muan County to deny the building permit and halt the construction plan, while calling on Jeonnam Development Corporation to fully review location, environment, and resident acceptance in the process of supplying the facility site.
◇From the military airport to the data center… "We shoulder only burdens"
Residents' discontent does not stop at the data center. With the Gwangju military airport transfer issue overlapping with the medical school and main government complex issues, voices are saying, "Aren't we missing what the area really needs and taking on only undesirable facilities?"
Muan County is being discussed as a candidate site for the Gwangju military airport transfer. Military airports are considered representative undesirable facilities due to noise from fighter jet operations. A plan is being pursued to hold a Muan County resident vote in Oct. and to finalize the transfer area in Nov.
On the other hand, there are complaints that Muan County has repeatedly tasted defeat in projects it had hoped would drive local development. During the Gwangju–South Jeolla administrative integration process, Muan County argued that Muan, the seat of the South Jeolla provincial government, should be designated as the main government complex after integration.
Currently, operations are divided among the Gwangju, Muan, and Eastern Government Complexes, with planning, political affairs, and policy functions assigned to the Gwangju complex. Among Muan residents, there is discontent that if core functions coordinating the entire integrated city concentrate in Gwangju, Gwangju would effectively serve as the central complex.
The bid to attract a medical school to National Mokpo University also fell through. On the 30th of last month, Gwangju–South Jeolla decided to recommend National Suncheon University to the Ministry of Education as the candidate university for establishing a new national medical school. In the evaluation, Suncheon University scored 89.15 points, and Mokpo University scored 87.85.
Because of this, in Muan and other parts of the SuNAM region, complaints are being raised that "Gwangju and the eastern region take the benefits of major projects while only the burdens return to the SuNAM region." The perception is that large-scale facilities like the military airport and the data center are coming to Muan or undergoing transfer discussions, while the medical school and the core functions after administrative integration—which were expected to drive regional development—head to other areas.
The local council plans to pursue attracting key institutions in step with the central government's second-phase public institution transfer. Council member Jeong So-hye led the introduction of the "Proposal urging the second-phase transfer of public institutions to Namak New Town." It states that the government should actively push the transfer of public institutions to decentralize state functions concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area to the regions and to foster Namak New Town as a core growth hub of the SuNAM region.
Representative institutions being discussed include: ▲National Agricultural Cooperative Federation ▲National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives ▲Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation (KOEM) ▲Korea Racing Authority (KRA) ▲Korea Airports Corporation (KAC) ▲Korea Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) ▲Korea District Heating Corporation (KDHC) ▲Korea Environment Corporation (K-eco).
Jeong said, "The relocation of public institutions to the regions is a core task of balanced national development that decentralizes state functions concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area and lays the foundation for regional growth," adding, "It is important to connect the region's strengths and the functions of public institutions to industry and jobs."