Democratic Party lawmakers from Cheonan, Asan and Chuncheon demand GTX-B, C extensions be included in national rail plan

Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers representing constituencies in Cheonan and Asan in South Chungcheong Province and Chuncheon in Gangwon Province called Thursday for the Greater Seoul Metropolitan Express Railway, or GTX, B and C extension lines to be included in the fifth national railway network plan.

Moon Jin-seog (Cheonan-gap, South Chungcheong), Lee Jae-gwan (Cheonan-eul, South Chungcheong), Lee Jeong-mun (Cheonan-byeong, South Chungcheong), Bok Gi-wang (Asan-gap, South Chungcheong), Jeon Eun-su (Asan-eul, South Chungcheong) and Heo Yeong (Chuncheon, Gangwon) held a press conference at the National Assembly's communication room, saying reports had emerged that even under the Lee Jae Myung administration, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and fiscal authorities remain skeptical about providing state funding for the GTX-B and C extension projects.

The lawmakers said that when the plan was announced in 2024, the government pressured local governments to bear the full cost of the extension projects, leaving them little choice but to comply due to a planned simultaneous opening in 2028. They added that as ground-breaking on the main lines had been delayed, completion of Line C had been pushed back by at least two years, and a delay in the full opening of Line B also appeared certain.

The Democratic Party had determined the projects could not proceed under what it described as the Yoon Suk Yeol administration's arm-twisting, cost-shifting approach, and had included "active pursuit of GTX extension lines" as a campaign pledge in the last presidential election, the lawmakers said. "The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and fiscal authorities are still stuck in 2024, obstructing the government's fulfillment of its own campaign pledge," they said.

The lawmakers warned that regional economies needed GTX and other metropolitan transit infrastructure to attract businesses and drive growth. They said that if even the Lee Jae Myung administration — which has championed regional development as a core priority — shifted the burden of the GTX extensions onto local governments, public anger and disappointment would reach a point that nothing could contain.

They said they were prepared to go anywhere — Cheong Wa Dae, the Sejong government complex or elsewhere — to make the case for including the extension lines in the railway network plan. "We will fight with all our strength alongside 1.4 million citizens of Cheonan, Asan and Chuncheon until the day the railway network plan is announced," they added.