아시아 11/09/16 Senior bishop urges naval base halt - Navy officer accuses Church of blindly taking sides, listening only to opponents..Francesco Ahn, Jeju

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Senior bishop urges naval base halt

Navy officer accuses Church of blindly taking sides, listening only to opponents

Francesco Ahn, Jeju
Korea
September 16, 2011

Bishop Matthias Ri Iong-hoon (center) talks with Father John Ko Byeong-soo (far left)

The officer in charge of construction of a controversial new naval base on Jeju island has accused the Catholic Church of blindly listening to one side of the argument and not even trying to understand the navy’s point of view.

According to Captain Lee Eun-kook, “the Catholic Church is only listening to opponents of the base and is not prepared to listen to us and understand the difficulties the navy is facing.”

He also denied Church and opposition claims that construction of the base is unlawful.

“There are no flaws in terms of legal or administrative procedures,” the naval officer said.

Plans for the base were announced by the navy and the Jeju provincial government in June 2007. It is expected to be completed in 2014 and become the home base of a new fleet of destroyers that will patrol the East China Sea between China and Japan.

Meanwhile, the head of the Korean bishops’ justice and peace committee urged the government yesterday to halt construction of the naval base.

Bishop Matthias Ri Iong-hoon issued his call while on a visit to Gangjeong village near the construction site to show solidarity with local people opposed to the project.

Bishop Ri was accompanied to the island—also known as the island of peace — by three priests including Father Hugo Park Jung-woo, the committee’s secretary.

He met villagers at a makeshift chapel in the village and declared his support for them and for Bishop Peter Kang U-il of Cheju and his priests in their fight against the base.

Stressing “it is not too late,” Bishop Ri said the government should stop the project so that “Jeju can become ‘a true Island of Peace.’”