Government launches commission for controversial river project probe in Korea

A government-led commission in charge of investigating a highly controversial project to refurbish the country's four major rivers officially kicked off on Friday, the Prime Minister's Secretariat said. As a trademark of the previous Lee Myung-bak administration, the mega project costing 22 trillion won (US$20.1 billion) is aimed at helping prevent floods and promoting tourism along the country's four major rivers - the Han, Nakdong, Kum and Yeongsan. But it has long drawn criticism from civic activists and the opposition party, who say structures built throughout the course of the project have caused irreversible environmental damage and other suspected irregularities. As part of efforts to resolve suspicions and seek ways to better manage the facilities, the government launched the commission. It is comprised of 15 civilian experts deemed neutral on the topic, according to the office. "The government's position is to remove all suspicions about the project by investigating and assessing it in a thorough and fair manner," Prime Minister Chung Hong-won said after appointing the experts to the commission members. The commission will be tasked with conducting a fact-finding survey and assessing the project for about a year. Details of how the probe will be carried out will be decided via discussions among its members, it added. The commission was supposed to include members both supportive and critical of the project, but the opposition parties and environmentalists failed to narrow differences with the government on how to select the members. They refused to take part in the committee, causing the government to appoint only neutral experts. In May, the main opposition Democratic Party launched a similar fact-finding committee to look into alleged irregularities surrounding the project. The prosecution, for its part, has started an investigation into suspicions that several local builders colluded to win a bid for the project.