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| President Moon Jae-in talks about the renewable energy project to build floating wind turbines in Ulsan at the city's tech-industrial park in May 2021. Korea Times file |
By Ko Dong-hwan
People Power Party (PPP) presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol and his rival Lee Jae-myung's ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) clashed over a renewable energy project to build floating wind turbines in Ulsan.
Speaking in front of Lotte Department Store in the southeastern coastal city, Feb. 19, Yoon said that DPK lawmakers are trying to benefit only their allies through the project, which is still in the planning stages. He called the national renewable energy-based power generation project "conniving that goes beyond ignorance" on the part of the DPK.
"Why on Earth is the city of Ulsan seeing a renewable energy-based wind power project being erected which fishermen and other citizens had opposed it?" the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) candidate said during his speech on Saturday. "I think you all know who will benefit from the project by getting orders for the project's construction. I can tell you that none of those who oppose the DPK's doctrines or who are not the party's core supporters will get a piece of the pie from the project."
Yoon's harsh rhetoric against the DPK in his Saturday speech also targeted Lee's alleged involvement in a controversial urban development project in Seongnam's Daejang-dong, a case that has persisted for months without prosecutors having proven the allegations. "Think about Daejang-dong. Can't you people smell something rotten from all the way over here? We must excommunicate the core members of the DPK who elected the evident suspect as their presidential candidate."
Yoon's speech came after Lee visited Ulsan on Feb. 5 and promoted the project as a new cash cow for the city, which was a major heavy and chemical industry base for decades, leading to the launching of a new industrial park in the city and thus new jobs for local residents. Lee said that the country must disperse its economic growth, which has been heavily concentrated in the capital area, to broader local regions, and that this project will be a perfect chance for the city to solve that issue.
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| Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party raises his fist while speaking to people in front of Lotte Department Store in Ulsan, Feb. 19. Newsis |
"The central government (under my administration) will fully support the project and develop the city as a national hub for carbon neutrality and green energy-based industrial businesses," Lee said during his visit to the city.
The DPK's branch office in the city responded to Yoon in a statement released Feb. 20, criticizing him for inciting the city residents with lies, saying that the project is a new economic engine for the city that has been reliant on heavy and chemical industries for the past 60 years and is poised to be an important prospective business for the nation, the city and the local residents, according to the party.
"Yoon, who proved his indifference to the concept of renewable energy by showing himself ignorant of the meanings of 'RE100' and the 'EU Taxonomy' during a TV debate (the first debate among the four leading candidates earlier this month), has angered the citizens with groundless instigations that are almost a curse," the DPK's statement read.
As for Yoon calling the project the DPK's "conniving that goes beyond ignorance," the party said that Yoon has "already decided to see it as an illicit business that he will purposefully shatter by ordering a full investigation of it once he takes the presidential office."
The DPK added that Yoon's pledges to build more hospitals, new subway lines and trams in the city are nothing new, as they were already included in the city's ongoing plans.
The project, approved under the Moon Jae-in administration, is part of the central government's bid to build 11 wind turbines with a total capacity of 3.9 gigawatts in the waters flanking Ulsan, Busan and other cities in South Gyeongsang Province. The construction of the facility has been joined by a consortium of 10 firms.
Ahead of the construction, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has been brainstorming how to realize the project through a consensus among local residents and those in the fishing industry, as well as the future operators of the turbines, whose financial profits are guaranteed.
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