Kim Jin-pyo: "Fundamental Solution to Airport Noise Damage is Relocation"

Kim Jin-pyo, a member of the National Assembly's Defense Committee (Democratic Party, Youngtong District, Suwon), emphasized on the 18th during the National Audit of the Air Force Headquarters held at Gyeryongdae that the fundamental solution to resolving noise damage around urban military airfields in Suwon, Daegu, and Gwangju is to relocate military airfields that have been deteriorating for over 50 years.

Rep. Kim Jin-pyo stated on the day that "According to the Supreme Court precedent, noise damage compensation paid to residents around military airports reached 200 billion won last year, and within the next 5 years, it will exceed 1 trillion won, requiring the nation to bear astronomical financial burden," and added "the fundamental solution to this is the relocation of urban military airfields."

In relation to this, Rep. Kim Jin-pyo argued that "there is no practical measure that can lower urban military airport noise below the standard, and if Air Force fighter jets become more high-performance than they currently are, noise damage will inevitably increase," and stressed that "immediate preliminary surveys for suitable sites for the relocation of urban military airfields must be initiated."

Rep. Kim Jin-pyo also pointed out that "due to noise-related complaints from residents around urban military airports, reduction in aircraft takeoff and landing frequencies is unavoidable," and noted that "this is causing disruptions to Air Force capability enhancement, including insufficient pilot training for tactical exercises, and restrictions on patrol flight operations."

Rep. Kim Jin-pyo added that "because of such problems, advanced countries such as the United States and Europe are also relocating and operating military airports to islands, coastal areas, deserts, and other locations."

In particular, regarding the "Special Act on Military Airport Relocation" that he sponsored, Rep. Kim stated that "the reason military airport relocation is being delayed is because there are roughly 20 approval procedures that are complex, and there are almost no incentives for the Air Force," and revealed that "the bill, which was designed to significantly simplify approval procedures under the leadership of the Minister of Defense and allows part of development profits to be utilized for defense capability enhancement such as construction of cutting-edge military airports, will serve as a catalyst for military airport relocation."