Sign the petition to cancel the new airport project nationwide
No more airports on a burning apocalyptic planet. Stop the runway of death!
Signature link: bit.ly/national new airport withdrawal
Signature due: May 12, 2025
Organized by: National New Airport White Paperization Coalition
Contact: 010-2760-7723
The signatures will be forwarded to the presidential candidates.
There are already 15 airports in operation in the country, 11 of which are not in demand and are accumulating a chronic deficit of over KRW 140 billion a year (in 2023). Looking at airport utilization rates in 2023, Gunsan Airport is only 0.8%, Muan Airport is 1.1%, Sacheon Airport is 1.1%, Wonju Airport is 1.2%, Pohang-Gyeongju Airport is 1.5%, Yangyang Airport is 3.3%, Ulsan Airport is 5.3%, Yeosu Airport is 8%, Gwangju Airport is 9.4%, Daegu Airport is 14.4%, and Cheongju Airport is 16%.
Despite this underutilization of operational airports, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport is moving forward with or reviewing plans to build 10 more unnecessary new airports across the country (Gadeokdo New Airport, Gyeonggi International Airport, Daegu Gyeongbuk Integrated New Airport, Baekryeong Airport, Saemangeum New Airport, Seosan Airport, Wolleung Airport, Jeju 2nd Airport, Black Mountain Airport, and Pocheon Airport).
These 10 new airports would cost more than $40 trillion to build. What's more, airports built on oceans, tidal flats, and marshes will have to pay astronomical ongoing costs for maintenance and management that far outweigh the construction costs. When you add up the passenger demand these airport projects are projecting, you come to the horrifying conclusion that we need 100 million more people to fly.
Moreover, the locations of new airports such as Saemangeum New Airport, Jeju 2nd Airport, Gadeokdo New Airport, and Black Mountain Airport are all located in migratory bird migratory areas. Therefore, new airport projects not only cause large-scale ecological massacres by destroying the habitat of migratory birds, but also foreshadow deadly aircraft-bird collisions. The risk of bird strikes at these new airports is much higher than at existing airports, and the risk of bird strikes is up to 650 times higher than at Muan Airport, where an actual bird strike occurred.
Airplanes are by far the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions among transportation modes, and airport construction causes massive ecological destruction. In the face of climate disruption and biodiversity collapse, we're reducing airports and restoring ecosystems, but we're also reclaiming irreplaceable tidal flats and wetlands, carving up mountains to fill in oceans, cutting down forests, choking off airways, decommissioning national parks, and covering up farmland to build more airports. At a time when the global climate and ecological crisis is forcing governments to reduce existing airports, cancel plans for new airports, regulate short-haul routes, and create a "no-fly" movement, these unbelievable airport projects are being rushed through under the guise of boosting local economies.
According to the purpose of the new airport projects, all regions should become logistics hubs, Northeast Asia hubs, gateways, and bases, and the economy should be developed through one airport. However, new airports will not help revitalize the local economy, but will only double the amount of public capital with trillions of taxpayer dollars. On the contrary, it is likely to increase the burden on the local economy. It is time to stop wasting taxpayer money on the fiction and delusion of revitalizing the local economy and taking away the last place of precious lives.
Yoon Seok-yul, who tried to suppress the people with martial law for the sole benefit of the ruling family's security and capital, has been impeached and an early presidential election is on the horizon. The disaster of having such an unscrupulous and unscrupulous president as our president must not be repeated again. The National Coalition to Stop New Airports is launching a signature drive to call for the withdrawal of new airport projects across the country, which are ecological crimes that accelerate climate collapse and mass extinction. We will deliver the results of the signature campaign to the presidential candidates to demand the abolition of unnecessary airport projects. What should be protected in this desperate crisis is the survival and peace of the poor and neighboring people, who are the first to suffer and be sacrificed by disasters, not the profits of the construction capital and the pretentious politicians. Please sign the petition to stop the new airport projects across the country, which are runways of death, and share it widely!
_National Coalition to White-Wash New Airport (Gadeokdo New Airport Opposition Citizens' Action-Gyeonggi International Airport White-Wash Joint Action-Saemangeum New Airport White-Wash Joint Action-Jeju 2nd Airport Forced Jeju Emergency Provincial Council-Korea Environment Congress-Religious Environment Congress-Climate Crisis Chungnam Action)
