Gov't greenlights five new dams for tech cluster, flood control
South Korea will build five dams to supply water to technology clusters and bolster flood control, while environmental groups continue to oppose the plan.
Climate Minister Kim Sung-whan announces a plan to build five new dams across the country during a briefing held at the Central Government Complex in Seoul on Aug. 27.YONHAP
South Korea will build five new dams to secure water for major technology clusters and strengthen flood protection as climate risks grow, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment said Thursday.
The five sites were selected from seven projects that had been under review.
The sites to host five new dams are: the counties of Cheongyang and Buyeo in South Chungcheong; Yeoncheon in Gyeonggi; Gangjin in South Jeolla; Ulsan; and Geoje in South Gyeongsang.
Thursday’s announcement confirmed the cancellation of dam projects in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang, and Uiryeong County, South Gyeongsang.
Dam works as a critical water supply source for chip plants, with each requiring 200,000 tons of water a day. The water is used to wash impurities off the chips.
The dam planned for the Chungcheong region — so-called Jicheon Dam — has drawn the sharpest divide among residents.
To reconcile the competing views, the public consultation committee proposed building a multipurpose dam that supplies water to address shortages in the Geum River basin and supply water for the region’s tech industries. The dam would double as flood-control infrastructure. Geum River originates at a mountain in Jangsu County, North Jeolla, and flows through North and South Chungcheong before reaching the Yellow Sea.
“We decided to build a multipurpose dam because the three major projects will require additional water supplies in the Chungcheong region,” Climate Minister Kim Sung-whan said. “The dam will be able to supply 180,000 tons of water a day to Cheongyang, Buyeo and other areas once completed.”
The Yeoncheon Dam will also serve a dual purpose by providing flood protection while securing water supplies for Yeoncheon, Paju and other parts of the Imjin River basin that lack their own water source. The Imjin River basin straddles the inter-Korean border, with about two-thirds of it in North Korea and the remainder in South Korea.
The planned Geoje dam will be built specifically for flood control, with capacity to store up to 620,000 tons of floodwater. The area recently suffered extensive damage from extreme rainfall.
Climate Minister Kim Sung-whan visits the proposed site of so-called Jicheon Dam in Cheongyang County, South Chungcheong, on Aug. 29, 2025.MINISTRY OF CLIMATE, ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
The two other dams given the green light, in Ulsan and Gangjin, South Jeolla, will also be built for flood control.
The Climate Ministry will explore alternative flood-control measures after scrapping the two projects. In place of the scrapped dam in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang, the government plans to make fuller use of the city’s multipurpose Buhang Dam and improve local waterways.
The project in Uiryeong, South Gyeongsang, had called for raising an agricultural reservoir, but the government will instead operate it in tandem with the nearby reservoir to provide enough flood-control capacity for a once-in-100-year flood.
Last September, the ministry dropped seven of 14 proposed dams pursued under the former Yoon Suk Yeol administration after determining they were not sufficiently necessary and faced strong resistance from local communities.
The remaining seven were subject to further review before the ministry announced its decision Thursday.
The scaled-back plan is expected to cost about 1.67 trillion won ($1.2 billion), less than half the 4.75 trillion won originally projected for all 14 dams.
A stream in Cheongyang County, South Chungcheong, where a new dam has been proposed, is seen in an undated photo.KIM BANG-HYUN
The five new dams must undergo legal procedures, including preliminary feasibility studies and environmental impact assessments. Construction plans will be finalized once the government establishes and announces the basic plans for each dam.
However, the downsized plan has done little to quell opposition from environmental groups, which are calling for the government to abandon the new dams altogether.
“The government is reviving projects whose necessity and feasibility remain disputed, using the ‘climate crisis’ and ‘advanced industries’ as justification,” the Korea Federation for Environmental Movements said in a statement Thursday. “It makes little sense to cite future industrial water demand as a reason for building new dams when it has yet to be established how much water will be needed, when it will be needed, or where.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
