사진 확대 Seo Dae-hyun, social affairs reporter
At the end of last year, the Nakdonggang River Basin Environment Agency (Environment Agency) notified the Yeongnam Alps cable car project of its ‘review’ opinion. It is a project to install cable cars in the 2.46km section from Ulju-gun, Ulsan, and other small group facilities to the Eoksae Pyeongwon in Sinbulsan Mountain.
The Environment Agency cited the possibility of cutting off the ecological axis, damaging high-altitude vegetation, and the possibility of endangered species as reasons for its review. The Environment Agency also pointed out that long-term demand is uncertain when analyzing cable car operations across the country.
However, the Ulsan community is strongly protesting, saying that the Environment Agency ignored all the discussions it had discussed together and suddenly stabbed him in the back.
In 2022, Ulju-gun decided to re-promote the project, which has been sluggish for more than 20 years, and in consultation with the Environment Agency, drafted an environmental impact assessment in June 2024. The main bill was submitted in December of that year, and the evaluation report was supplemented and submitted twice in May and October 2025 to reflect the request of the Environment Agency.
Ulju-gun had no criticism or disagreement in the process, and expected the project to pass easy deliberations as it prepared alternatives as requested by the Environment Agency. However, by the time the year’s work was completed after the closing ceremony on December 31 last year, an official letter of the decision to review arrived from the Environment Agency.
An official from Ulju-gun contacted the Environment Agency to confirm the reason for the review, but the person in charge was absent for reasons such as annual leave. The Environmental Commissioner was also absent. No matter how much the government is, complaints have erupted about whether local governments can cancel projects they have worked on for more than three years in this way.
It is also controversial that the Environment Agency ignored the consultations so far and repeated the contents of the strategic environmental impact assessment stage three years ago as a reason for review. Lee Soon-gul, the head of Ulju-gun, expressed regret, saying, “It is devaluing the efforts so far to present the matters discussed and supplemented several times after an expert investigation as reasons for review.”
The controversy and conflict over the cable car project have been repeated throughout the country for decades. At times like this, the basis of the judgment should be more transparent and the policy should be consistent. Looking at the decision process, it is questionable whether environmental authorities are qualified to perform this role properly.
[Seo Daehyun, social studies reporter]