Grand Korean Waterway
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The Grand Korean Waterway plan, officially known as the Pan Korea Grand Waterway(한반도대운하, 韓半島大運河), consists of 3 canals; the Seoul-Busan Canal (GyeongBu Canal,경부운하), the Honam Canal (호남운하), and the North Korea Canal (BukHan Canal, 북한운하).
The Seoul-Busan Canal would run between Seoul and Busan, which are two of South Korea's largest cities, connecting the Han River and Nakdong River. Honam Canal, which would run through ChungCheongBuk-do, ChungCheongNam-do, JeollaBuk-do, and JeollaNam-do, connects Geum River and YeongSan River. The North Korea Canal would connect SinUiJu-Pyongyang-GaeSeong, Wonsan-GaeSeong.
The canal is a project of Lee Myung Bak, who is the present president of South Korea. It is hugely controversial. Many Koreans object to this plan. President Lee said that he would not carry out this plan if many people objected to this idea, but there was a person who works in the Korea Institute of Construction Technology(한국건설기술연구원) has confessed that government's 'Four-Major-River Arrangement Plan' is a canal project in reality.
GyeongBu Canal[change | change source]
The major canal in this plan is the GyeongBu Canal(Seoul-Busan Canal, 경부운하).
Route[change | change source]
The GyeongBu Canal starts in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. It flows along the Han River, and encounter with mountains. And then 40 km-long tunnel begins, connecting the Han River with the Nakdong River.
Controversy[change | change source]
Many Koreans are anxious about this plan. Critics of the plan say that this canal is not efficient at all. They say that mountains along the proposed route would make it difficult and expensive to construct. Currently, the major transportation method on the GyeongBu (Seoul-Busan) line is road transport, which takes 5 hours. However, ships following the GyeongBu Canal will take 25 hours to finish the trip. Critics believe this plan would just be a waste of money. In addition, it would be harmful to the environment and damage cultural treasures. On the other hand, supporters of this plan say that this canal will lessen congestion on the GyeongBu Expressway and GyeongBu Railroad line. Furthermore, sand from dredging the river bed could be sold for use in construction. They argue that this money could be used to fund the construction of the canals. However, critics argue that sand prices will be so cheap that little money will be earned from selling the sand. They say that it is only beneficial to the construction industry.