원문: 고재열의 독설닷컴 http://poisontongue.sisain.co.kr/1306
그 와중에도 기술자들은 이미 한강, 낙동강, 금강, 영산강에서 공사를 시작한 상태이다. 이 공사는 이 대통령의 임기가 끝나는 2013년이 훨씬 지난 후까지도 그에게 명예 혹은 악명을 가져다 줄 것이며, 그의 후계자를 결정할 요소가 될 수도 있다. 현대 건설의 CEO였던 이 대통령은 거대한 사업들에 대한 선호로 인해 “불도저”라는 별명을 얻었다. 그는 한국의 급속한 산업화로 인해 심하게 오염된 강들의 환경과 경제에 대해 재고하는 것 이상을 바라보고 있다. 노동자들은 3년 동안 강바닥을 준설하고 제방을 쌓을 것이며 저수지를 만들고 수력 발전소를 지을 것이다. 이러한 전철을 기억하며 그는 이 사업을 전국적인 규모로 성공시켜보고자 한다. 그는 이 사업이 빨리 진행되어 2012년 국회의원 선거와 대통령 선거 이전에 끝나기를 원한다. 비록 재출마는 금지되어 있지만, 그가 이끄는 한나라당은, 환경 친화적 사업을 통한 경제 성장을 이루고자 하는 녹색 뉴딜의 주력 사업으로 사대강을 꼽고 있다. 2008년에 내려진 미국산 쇠고기 수입 허가로 인한 거대 가두 시위 이후로, 이 대통령의 지지율은 경제성장과 함께 회복되어 가고 있다. 그는 이제 깨끗한 환경을 원하는 풍족한 세대를 겨냥하고 있고, 서울에서 그 시발점이 멋지게 구현된 바 있다. 성공적이었다. 그가 서울 남서부의 이 마을을 시작점으로 잡은 것은 우연한 일은 아니다. 영산강은 한국에서 가장 오염된 강 중 하나이며, 이 지역 내 많은 지역구가 이 대통령을 지원하고 있다. 하지만 전라도를 둘러싼 지역에서는 전래의 반발세력이 굳건하게 자리를 지키고 있어 지역구 정치인들에게 딜레마가 되고 있다. 기공식에서 도지사와 광주 시장은 둘 다 민주당원인데, 이 사업을 상찬했다. 이 사업을 가장 갈망하는 지지자들 중 일부는 강 주변 주민들이다. 목포 하구에서 농사를 짓는 이용수(77) 씨는 30년 전을 그리워 한다. 어린이들은 물에 뛰어들어 조개를 잡았고, 고기잡이배가 영산포까지 올라와 내륙지방에 멸치와 홍어를 팔던 시절이었다. 그 이후로 강바닥에는 유독한 개흙이 쌓여 강바닥이 높아졌다. 그는 그래서, 속는 셈치고 대통령을 한 번 믿어볼 셈이다. “서울의 그 또랑도 정화하지 않았”냐며, “일단 이 강을 정화하고 나면 모든 이가 칭찬할 것”이라며. Ambitious Rivers Project Meets a Sea of Opposition CHOE SANG-HUN Published: December 13, 2009
Choi Han-gon, 55, a farmer, looked at a billboard that showed a new weir to built on the Youngsan River as part of President Lee Myung-bak’s controversial “Four Major Rivers Restoration Project.” Yoon Hyo-chang, an engineer with Daerim Industrial Co., explained that President Lee Myung-bak’s “Four Major Rivers Restoration Project” would create a new river front complex in Yeoju, a town on the Han River south of Seoul. The project will remake the country’s four longest rivers. Mr. Lee says the project will generate thousands of jobs, improve water supply and quality, and prevent flooding, while providing a model for environmentally sound development. But critics call it a political boondoggle, say it will be an environmental disaster and have sued to stop it. More South Koreans oppose the project than support it. And opponents charge that it is simply a repackaging of Mr. Lee’s earlier dream of linking the Han and Nakdong Rivers to create a “Grand Korean Waterway” across the nation, a proposal he abandoned in the face of widespread opposition. Meanwhile engineers have already begun work to rebuild the Han, Nakdong, Kum and Youngsan Rivers, work that is likely to make Mr. Lee famous or infamous long after his five-year term ends in 2013 and could even determine who succeeds him. “If they build a weir here, I fear it will trap the water and make the river more polluted than it is now,” said Choi Han-gon, 55, a farmer here who admits to conflicted feelings about the project. Gazing at a government billboard depicting the futuristic waterfront town promised to rise here within two years, he added, “I can also see why everyone will love it once it’s done.” Mr. Lee, a former chief executive of the Hyundai construction company who is nicknamed the Bulldozer for his penchant for colossal engineering schemes, aims at nothing less than rethinking the ecology and economy of the rivers, some of which were heavily polluted during the country’s rapid industrialization. For three years, workers will dredge river bottoms and build dikes, reservoirs and hydroelectric power stations. When the work is done, the government says, the rivers will “come alive” with tourists, sailboats and water sports enthusiasts. Sixteen futuristic-looking weirs will straddle the rivers, creating pristine lakes bordered by wetland parks. A 1,050-mile network of bike trails will run along the rivers. Mr. Lee has engaged in this sort of development before, overcoming similar opposition and ultimately reaping a political fortune. As mayor of Seoul, in 2005, he silenced protests from urban shop owners and peeled back asphalt to reveal a long-forgotten, sewage-filled stream. He cleaned it and let it run again through downtown Seoul by pumping in water from the Han River. Today, the four-mile Cheonggyecheon River is the capital’s most visible landmark. Its popularity helped win him the presidency in 2007. Now, with an eye to his legacy, Mr. Lee is determined to repeat that success, this time on a national scale. He wants the work done fast, in time for the 2012 parliamentary and presidential elections. Although he is constitutionally barred from seeking re-election, his governing Grand National Party bills the river project as the centerpiece of a Green New Deal, a strategy of economic growth through eco-friendly projects. “As with the restoration of Cheonggyecheon, our efforts to save the four major rivers will generate greater benefits than we can even imagine now,” Mr. Lee told 2,000 guests at the groundbreaking ceremony on the Youngsan River. The political opposition, however, calls it “quick-fix window-dressing” ahead of the 2012 elections. More than 400 environmental and other civic groups filed a joint lawsuit last month to stop the project. They argue that dredging river bottoms will disrupt the ecosystem and the new dams will create catch basins, worsening pollution and flooding. “He just broke ground for an environmental catastrophe,” said Woo Sang-ho, spokesman of the main opposition Democratic Party. In Parliament, the opposition is trying to block further financing for the project, while Mr. Lee’s party, the majority, is determined to push it through. After his decision to allow American beef import!s last year was met with huge street protests, Mr. Lee’s approval ratings have begun to bounce back amid signs of economic recovery. Now he is courting a new generation of affluent Koreans who want a greener environment in their neighborhoods, a bet that paid off handsomely in Seoul. That he chose this southwestern town for the official start of the four rivers project was no accident. The Youngsan River is one of the country’s most polluted, and many in the province support Mr. Lee’s efforts. But the surrounding Cholla region is a traditional stronghold of the opposition, posing a dilemma for local politicians. At the groundbreaking event, the provincial governor and the mayor of Kwangju, the region’s main city ? both members of the Democratic Party ? praised the project. Some of the project’s most avid supporters are those who live near the rivers. “I have great expectations,” said Choi Hyun-ho, 61, a farmer in Yeoju, a Han River town south of Seoul. “Land prices here have risen 40 percent in the past two years.” But some locals fear the loss of their traditional way of life. “Those trucks and bulldozers are slashing the rivers around the country to build a personal monument for an engineering president and his friends: greedy developers and construction companies,” said Kim Jae-sun, 46, a farmer on the Youngsan River. “I don’t foresee any tourists coming here, just garbage from upstream piling up at the new dam, right in front of my village.” Mr. Kim joined dozens of environmental activists who protested at Mr. Lee’s ceremony. “You can’t improve water quality by building more dams,” said Park Mi-kyong, a local environmental activist who led the demonstration. “It’s best to let the river flow its natural course.” Lee Yong-soo, 77, who lives in Mokpo, a town farther downstream, expressed nostalgia for 30 years ago when the water was so clean that children dived for clams and fishing boats sailed up the Youngsan to sell anchovies and skate fish to inland villages. But then the riverbed rose with layers of toxic silt. So he was willing to give the president the benefit of the doubt. “He cleaned up that ditch in Seoul, didn’t he?” he said. “If he can clean up this river, everyone will applaud him.”
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