Raising dam for Gwangju semiconductor cluster could submerge natural monument — and no one told the heritage agency

The government has drawn criticism for failing to consult the national heritage authority over plans to raise Dongbok Dam — Gwangju's main drinking water source — as part of efforts to build a southwestern semiconductor cluster, even as environmental groups have warned the project could submerge a natural monument.

According to a position statement the Cultural Heritage Administration submitted to the office of People Power Party lawmaker Ku Ja-geun on Monday, the agency said it had "not received any request for consultation or official correspondence from the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy or any other agency" regarding preservation of the Hwasun Yasa-ri ginkgo tree, designated Natural Monument No. 303.

The Cultural Heritage Administration added that it had "not received any request for consultation on the current plan to raise Dongbok Dam," and said it would "conduct a thorough review if the relevant agencies request consultation on the plan in the future."

The government earlier unveiled a plan to raise Dongbok Dam by 15 meters at a cost of about 465 billion won ($309 million). The announcement prompted warnings that raising the dam could submerge around 130 nearby households, part of the Hwasun Jeokbyeok scenic landscape, and the Hwasun Yasa-ri ginkgo tree, a designated natural monument.

The Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy has said it is "reviewing options to build an embankment around the tree or transplant it." There is precedent for such an approach: when the Imha Dam in Andong was built, the Andong Yonggye-ri ginkgo tree — also a natural monument slated for submersion — was preserved by raising the surrounding ground by about 15 meters and replanting the tree on the elevated site.

No consultation with the Cultural Heritage Administration over how to protect the natural monument has yet taken place, raising questions about whether due diligence was carried out before the project moved forward.

The People Power Party has criticized the government's southwestern semiconductor cluster plan since its announcement, arguing that power and water supply arrangements had not been sufficiently thought through. The party is now pressing further, raising the natural monument issue tied to the dam-raising plan and calling for a comprehensive review of how the entire project has been handled.

Ku took aim at the government's claim that companies had independently chosen their investment locations and that all necessary infrastructure — power, water and labor — was already in place. "That makes no sense," he said. "The very people who called for tearing down the Four Major Rivers weirs are now saying they want to raise a dam — it's laughable."