hankyoreh

South Gyeongsang Province

By Choi Sang-won, South Gyeongsang correspondent

On May 19, residents of Wiyang and Pyeongbat villages in South Gyeongsang Province’s Miryang pulled an all-nighter. Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) had announced that it would resume the construction of electricity transmission towers on May 20. To prevent the construction crews from entering the village, the locals gathered near the village entrance and set up a sit-in protest. They spent the night checking their emergency networks and carrying out the work that needed to be done. They filled buckets with human and cow excrement to throw at the KEPCO crews in case they tried to forcibly go ahead with the construction. The villagers, who are mostly in their 70s and 80s, even wrote their wills. There are plans to build four transmission towers in Wiyang and Pyeongbat villages.

Residents from Wiyang blocked the village entrance by tying ropes between trees and setting up barricades with soil tilling machines and tractors. It would be impossible to block KEPCO equipment from entering Pyeongbat village after they have entered Wiyang village (the two villages are about a kilometer apart). Pyeongbat residents formed groups in the morning, guarding either the village entrance or the construction site.

Early in the morning of May 20, the police were the first to show up. To prevent any violence, Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency deployed around 500 riot police and 22 female police officers to four neighborhoods in Miryang.

Around 9am, the construction workers started using chainsaws to cut down trees in the construction site. The locals didn’t stop them from entering. “It’s impossible to stop the workers who come in through the forest. We’re going to concentrate on preventing the equipment from entering the village,” said Lee Nam-woo, 71, chair of the Bubuk Residents’ Committee.

Some residents, outraged by policemen trying to block the sit-in site, took their shirts off and threw buckets of dung at the police. Lee Geum-ja, one of the elderly women who participated in the clash, lost consciousness and was brought to the hospital. The villagers are planning to carry out the sit-in until KEPCO announces a halt on construction.

In Dogok Village, there was a physical clash between the locals and the workers as the locals tried to stop the workers from cutting down trees. In this process, seniors Lee Gap-sul, 80, and Seo Hong-gyo, 83, were sent to the hospital after being stepped on by workers.

While KEPCO planned to start construction on 6 sites (spread across 4 villages), construction at only two sites in Badeuri village were carried out peacefully. These two spots have already completed most of the preliminary construction since they are located close to Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province and far away from any villages. They are not expected to cause any damage to local residents.

There are 52 transmission towers yet to be constructed in Miryang’s four neighborhoods, in which there are around 20 villages. However, there are few villages that have approved KEPCO’s construction of transmission towers. In January 16, 2012, Lee, 74, one of the locals, self-immolated in an effort to halt the construction. Residents say that they will fight against the resumed construction in Lee’s honor.

KEPCO’s policy is to continue the construction despite local resistance. A KEPCO employee said, “Today, we concentrated on laying the groundwork for the construction. We checked the equipment that was left on the site for months and repaired the site. We can’t work at night due to safety concerns, but we will resume the construction tomorrow morning. The process may be slow due to resistance from the locals, but we won’t halt the construction.”

On May 21, there were many more clashes between residents and police. From May 20-21, six residents were sent to the hospital with injuries. Three of them sustained their injuries in clashes with the police. While police held back the residents, KEPCO brought in their equipment using helicopters and continued the construction.

The police explained that they had been deployed to prevent clashes between residents and KEPCO, but residents have argued that the police are there to support the construction and impede the movement of residents.

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