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| ▲ Activists decry a cable car project on Mt. Seorak during a press conference in Wonju, Gangwon Province, on Feb. 2, 2023. (Yonhap) |
Mt Seorak-cable car
Controversial cable car project on Mt. Seorak gets conditional nod
SEOUL, Feb. 27 (Yonhap) -- The environment ministry on Monday gave a conditional nod to a controversial project to build and operate a cable car system over a natural reserve area on Mount Seorak near South Korea's east coast.
The project, pursued since the 1980s, seeks to build a 3.5-kilometer-long cable car system between the Seoraksan National Park's Osaek area in the county of Yangyang and near the mountain's summit.
The site is within a state-designated natural reserve as well as a biosphere reserve designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The environment ministry's regional office in Wonju gave "conditional consent" to an environmental impact assessment report submitted by Yangyang County on the project, saying it carries measures to reduce negative environmental effects.
In effect, the decision marks the clearance of all administrative hurdles for the project besides a regional budget review by the interior ministry.
The project has been part of balanced development policy goals selected by President Yoon Suk Yeol's transition team and a campaign pledge by Gangwon Province Gov. Kim Jin-tae.
The project has been a subject of heated debate between preservationists who argue the region's ecology, including mountain goats, would sustain irreversible damage and developmentalists who claim the project would provide an economic boost to the local economy.
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