"Why Bury Transmission Lines Right Next to the Elementary School?" Growing Conflict Between Masan Residents and KEPCO

Meeting Held on the 23rd to Discuss Construction Suspension and Acceptance of Demands

On the 20th, residents of Marine Asian and the emergency committee protested against the installation of high-voltage underground cables in front of Masanhappo-gu Office.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Saeyan] The transmission line construction in the Wolyeong-dong area of Masanhappo-gu, Changwon-si, Gyeongnam is just three days away, but conflicts continue as no agreement has been reached between the residents of Changwon Wolyeong Marine Ashiang and the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) Southern Construction Headquarters.

According to the Emergency Countermeasures Committee Against High-Voltage Underground Lines on the 23rd, a meeting to negotiate with KEPCO is scheduled for 5 p.m. that day.

The committee issued a statement on the 20th, strongly demanding "the withdrawal of KEPCO's forced construction of the Cheongnyangsan transmission tower and the high-voltage underground line near Goun Elementary School."

The "154㎸ West Masan Branch Transmission Line Expansion Project" was approved by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in May 2010, after which KEPCO held resident briefings by village to begin construction.

After a decade-long tug-of-war among Yulgok Village, Wolyeong Village, and Gapo Booyoung Apartments, the current route was finalized between December 2018 and December 2019 when residents agreed on the micro-Tesla overhead line path.

However, the situation changed when residents began moving into Marine Ashiang in December 2019.

The Marine Ashiang residents argued for a halt to construction, stating, "Although the new Goun Elementary School construction had been underway since January 2019, no one considered the harm to students from electromagnetic waves of the transmission lines passing in front of Goun Elementary School during the previous route agreement process."

KEPCO, however, maintains that the matter was already agreed upon and that construction is unavoidable to stabilize power supply, leading to friction.

In response, residents formed the Emergency Committee and took collective action, proposing best and alternative solutions and improvements to resolve the issue.

The best solution demands laying additional underground lines along the existing route connected to the West Masan Substation.

The alternative solution involves undergrounding the line along the foothills of Cheongnyangsan to the road in front of Gapo Booyoung and laying the underground line in front of Goun Elementary School at a minimum depth of 15 meters, followed by installing an electromagnetic wave shielding barrier.

KEPCO stated, "The electromagnetic waves in front of Goun Elementary School are about 1/100 of the standard level, almost negligible," adding, "Changing the route would require significant budget and time and could cause conflicts with residents in other areas, so we will try to persuade through dialogue."

Given the situation, residents have been urging KEPCO to stop construction or accept their demands through vehicle protests on the 21st and upcoming 25th.

KEPCO initially planned to proceed with construction from the 22nd but reportedly postponed the schedule to the 26th due to strong opposition from residents.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.