Grand Korean Waterway

Grand Korean Waterway
Hangul	한반도 대운하
Hanja	韓半島大運河
Revised Romanization	Han Bando Daeunha
McCune–Reischauer	Han Pando Taeunha

The Grand Korean Waterway, officially known as the Pan Korea Grand Waterway, is a proposed 540-kilometer (340 mi) long canal connecting Seoul and Busan, two of South Korea's largest cities. The canal would run diagonally across the country connecting the Han River, which flows through Seoul into the Yellow Sea, to the Nakdong River, which flows through Busan into the Korea Strait. The proposed canal would be 540 kilometers in length and traverse difficult mountainous terrain.

The canal is a project of Lee Myung-bak, the current president of South Korea. It has met with huge controversy and disapproval.^{[citation needed]} Lee stated that his canal will lessen the load on the clogged motorways of the country as heavy goods are taken off of trucks and put onto barges and rivercraft. He also argued that it will revitalize the interior of the country with renewed tourism and investment.

Many Koreans are anxious about Lee's plans.^{[citation needed]} They argue that the canal will prove disastrous to the natural environment and potentially hazardous to the freshwater sources that nearly 50 million residents of the country depend on. In addition, many researchers and interested distribution industries prospect the canal may be economically unprofitable because land transportation may be more cost-effective^{[citation needed]}.

Supporters of this plan insist that the length of the construction would only be 40 km linking the Han River with the Nakdong River. The Canal would require sufficient width, depth and height of bridge decks to allow barges passage. Major portions of the Han and Nakdong are far narrower and shallower than is required, with most of the bridges on these rivers being unsuitable as their clearance is too low. The scale of construction would be enormous; a number of bridges would need to be rebuilt and both rivers would require extensive dredging along the 540 kilometer route.^{[citation needed]}

Lee proposes to fund the project almost exclusively through private funds and subsidize it through the sale of sand and gravel dredged from the rivers and streams involved in the project. This dredging will, he argues, also make the rivers cleaner.^{[citation needed]}

The proposal includes a smaller canal, planned to link Seoul and neighboring Incheon. It has been suggested that this will assist economic partnerships between the two cities, lessen traffic congestion and stimulate tourism,^{[citation needed]} beyond providing Seoul access to the Yellow Sea (West Sea). The mouth of the Han River is in an area between North Korea and South Korea, which limits economic activity in the region for security reasons.

See also

• Geography of South Korea
• Rivers of Korea

References

• "South Korean plans for a grand canal: Savior or folly?", International Herald Tribune, February 20, 2008, (Retrieved February 21, 2008)
• "Canal plan divides Korea", John Sudworth BBC News, Seoul (Retrieved 26 March 2008)
• "President-elect's team speeds up preparations for waterway project ", Korean Overseas Culture and Information Service