Uri Party Could Build Pyeongtaek Station

The ruling Uri Party’s fourth policy coordination committee chairman, Jeong Jang-sun, told reporters yesterday, “We have agreed to build Pyeongtaek Station on the Gyeongbu high-speed railroad line with the Ministry of Construction and Transportation (MOCT). As far as I know, the government is reviewing the timing of an announcement of the plan.”

Jeong also said, “The construction will begin sometime after the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division in the northern part of Gyeonggi Province and the U.S. base in Yongsan, Seoul are relocated to Pyeongtaek in 2008,” adding, “Overall, we considered a possible situation in which a large number of the U.S. troops will move to Pyeongtaek and an increase in the population in South Gyeonggi Province.”

In response, a MOCT official said, “Although we decided to review this plan, no plan has yet to be set. A KORAIL official said, “Since it takes just three minutes to go from the existing Cheonan Asan Station to Pyeongtaek, this plan does not reflect reality, and we did not review it at all.”

In-Jik Cho cij1999@donga.com