Pohang residents rally against eco-village site in Daesong-myeon, demand full cancellation

Residents of Ocheon-eup in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, held a rally to protest the selection of Daegak-ri in Daesong-myeon as the candidate site for an eco-village — a comprehensive resource recycling complex — and urged authorities to scrap the plan.

The Ocheon-eup Emergency Committee Against the Daesong-myeon Eco-Village Site staged simultaneous protests at three locations around Ocheon Traditional Market on Friday, coinciding with the market's regular market day.

The rally drew members of the Ocheon-eup village chiefs' council, community organizations, apartment residents' association representatives and ordinary residents, who held banners and pickets to highlight what they called the unjust selection of the candidate site.

Residents strongly condemned the plan, arguing that building a comprehensive waste treatment facility in Daegak-ri, Daesong-myeon, would threaten their livelihoods through foul odors, environmental pollution and degradation of their residential environment.

Since its launch in June, the committee has mounted opposition banners, held press conferences, organized community briefings and conducted street petition drives. From Sept. 28 through Thursday, it also staged a relay of solo protests along the commuter route in front of Pohang City Hall.

The committee plans to hold another large-scale protest at a city-organized public briefing scheduled for Friday and to continue its campaign. It also intends to deliver the petition signatures it has collected to the Pohang mayor in a face-to-face meeting.

"Ocheon residents have endured environmental damage for years from the Hodong landfill and solid refuse fuel facilities," a committee official said. "Building yet another large-scale waste treatment facility near our living area is forcing a one-sided sacrifice on residents."

The eco-village Pohang is pursuing is a comprehensive resource recycling complex intended to handle household waste from across the city from 2034 onward. Residents of Ocheon-eup, who say they have long borne the burden of existing environmental infrastructure, vowed to continue their opposition until the Daesong-myeon candidate site is withdrawn.