More Controversies on Unused Land Development of Incheon Airport

Even after the investigation of the Prosecutors Office, the scandals related with the Incheon Airport have mushroomed in terms of the selection standard, procedures, and the motives of the suspicions.

On requesting of the arrest warrant for former executive Director of the Development Project Division Lee Sang-Ho who selected Won-Ik Consortium as a priority negotiator, the Incheon International Airport Corp. reviewed the evaluation standards and moved to the negotiation for the enforcement agreement with Airport 72 that had been dropped as the second nominee.

New executive director Seo Jong-Jin expressed his strong intention to change the priority negotiator, saying that ``since the problems in the procedure have been revealed, it is reasonable to negotiate with the second nominee Airport 72.``

Mr. Seo also remarked, ``Won-Ik that failed to show the calculation basis should have been dropped from the beginning. IIAC will negotiate with the second ranked Airport 72 after the judiciary consultation during the suspension of the negotiation with Won-Ik.``

This is the first time for the Corp. official mentions the change of the priority negotiator, bringing about another suspicion that the recent controversies have been broke to select Airport 72.

Airport 72 offered a higher payment for the land use at the Evaluation Committee but obtained lower grades in the business capability and the financial status. One of the large stock holders of the consortium is the Sports Seoul 21, whose chairperson is Yoon Heung-Ryol, the brother of Rep. Kim Hong-Il`s wife.

Responding to the question, ``If the evaluation standard had problems, isn`t it appropriate to make public notice again to select a business?``,Mr. Seo said, ``We are considering that as well. Right after the completion of the prosecutors` investigation and the judiciary consultation, the Corp. will have inner discussions to decide the final measure.`` Thus, Won-Ik and Im-Kwang Construction that was dropped for over 3 months construction period claimed that the decision offers privileges to the Airport 72.

Won-Ik also stated that ``it is impossible to change the decided priority negotiator. If the Corp. changed it to the Airport 72, we will appeal to the law for justice.``

Im-Kwang Construction also asserted that ``the IIAC generous enough to change the evaluation standard and the committee members for the Won-Ik and Airport 72 applied such strict standard to us. The background of the decision is very suspicious. Therefore, the whole selection process has to go through all over again from the beginning.``

In the process, former executive director Lee arbitrarily changed the land-use payment to the land-use duration to help the Won-Ik and the incumbent executive director Kang annulled the decision of his precedent and tried to select the Airport 72 with his official authority.

jinhup@donga.com