PPP lawmaker says semiconductor mega project decided by 'president's word alone,' without feasibility review

People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun said Tuesday he cannot hide deep concern over the Lee Jae-myung administration's push to fast-track its "three mega projects," saying a national undertaking worth more than 1,400 trillion won ($914 billion) was decided "with a single word from the president" and without rigorous verification or scientific feasibility review.

Writing on his Facebook page Tuesday, Yoon said the three mega projects spanning the Honam, Chungcheong and Yeongnam regions "are filled with a rosy vision of balanced regional development and national renewal — but when you look at the substance, they amount to nothing more than a plan riddled with doubts about feasibility."

Yoon said the semiconductor industry is a classic cyclical sector with deep boom-and-bust swings tied to the silicon cycle, and that experts are already warning supply will be more than adequate from the large factories under construction in Yongin and Pyeongtaek at a cost of hundreds of trillions of won. "Even the Bank for International Settlements has warned that the current overheating of AI investment could carry destructive force on par with the 2008 global financial crisis," he said. "Is it really appropriate to rush ahead building factories in regions where plans for power, water, land and talent supply remain unclear — while drawing allegations of political favoritism?"

He added that it was "shocking in itself" that the massive projects were announced out of nowhere following private meetings between the president and the chiefs of major conglomerates, with no feasibility review by state research institutes and no budget plan from relevant ministries. "It says something that even the participating companies quietly left themselves an exit, saying their involvement 'could change depending on business conditions,'" he said.

Yoon warned that if the race to push the projects through ends in failure, "the price will fall squarely on our major conglomerates in the form of financial distress and default risk, and on the government in the form of massive fiscal deficits — pushing the entire Korean stock market and economy to the edge of a cliff." He said President Lee had nonetheless warned the opposition not to obstruct the projects even if it could not cooperate, calling the remark "truly arrogant and dangerous thinking."

"The opposition's legitimate criticism and demands for scrutiny are not 'obstruction' — they are the minimum safety brake needed to stop a runaway train and prevent a national disaster," Yoon said. "Are we simply supposed to applaud like rubber stamps for an irresponsible state-directed economic policy being pushed through without any feasibility analysis?"

He added that taxpayers' money and the nation's future are at stake, and that "the reckless speed-first approach to economic management — pushing ahead without proper feasibility review — must stop immediately." He vowed that if thorough scientific forecasting and infrastructure safeguards are not put in place first, his party would "mobilize every available means to check and scrutinize this flawed project's runaway course before it leads the Korean economy to ruin."