Tension is escalating ahead of the government’s forthcoming announcement of the location of a new airport to be built in the southeast, not only between the two candidate cities, but also among lawmakers and officials seeking to appease their constituents.

Most directly affected by the divide is the ruling conservative Saenuri Party, which has its political base in the region, referred to as Yeongnam.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is slated to announce on June 24 the site for the new southeast airport, picking between Busan and Miryang, according to officials.

Residents and officials of Busan, the nation’s second-largest metropolitan city and the No. 1 port city, are backing Gadeokdo Island, while the surrounding Gyeongsang provinces advocate the Hanam field in Miryang, an inland city between Busan and Daegu.

A feasibility study by ADPi, a French company specializing in airport architecture and engineering, is currently underway to determine which of the two is better suited as an airport location.

But amid escalating rumors that the government had set its mind upon Miryang, those advocating Busan recently raised their voices in urgent protest.

Their claim is that the politicians based in Gyeongsang provinces, as well as the presidential house, exerted pressure upon the site appraisal process so as to favor Miryang, which lies closer to other key Yeongnam cities than the southeast port city of Busan.

“I cannot but suspect that an invisible hand may be exerting political influence (on the airport site evaluation),” said Busan Mayor Suh Byung-soo on Wednesday in a radio interview.

Suh also vowed to step down from his post should Busan fail to beat Miryang in winning over the 10 trillion won ($8.65 billion) state project.

“The Land Ministry’s transport policies are mostly led by Daegu-affiliated officials,” he added, suggesting that those close to President Park Geun-hye are involved in the decision. Daegu is the hometown of the president, as well as a political stronghold for the conservative Saenuri Party.

The Busan mayor had been considered a ranking pro-Park figure, until his city’s interests conflicted with that of other Yeongnam cities over the given issue.

This theory that the pro-Park group had pulled strings, gained credibility during the campaigns for the April 13 general election, when a number of Yeongnam-based lawmakers made rosy promises to their voters on the airport construction.

“I believe that President Park has a number of gift packages ready for Daegu,” said Rep. Cho Won-jin in his Daegu constituency back in March.

“The southern airport construction project should make progress, of course.”

According to Busan, the inland city of Miryang is less qualified for a large-scale airport due to the surrounding mountains, but that this factor was not included in the ADPi-led evaluation report.

Local environmental civic groups spoke in favor of Busan’s claim by denouncing the Miryang airport scenario.

“Miryang’s Hanam area is only 4-5 kilometers away from the Hwapo wetland, an important natural habitat for migratory birds,” said a group of South Gyeongsang environmental organizations in a joint statement late last month.

“Building an airport there may cause frequent clashes between migrating birds and airplanes, especially during hibernating seasons.”

But those in support of Miryang remained relatively reserved on the issue, calling for Busan advocators to wait for the final evaluation report and submit to the decision.

“(Busan) should humbly accept the result of the (airport site) evaluation, which was initiated upon the consensus of all five local governments,” said Rep. Choung Tae-ok, a Daegu-based lawmaker of the Saenuri Party, in a radio interview Thursday.

He thereby blamed Busan Mayor Suh’s earlier remarks as “political pressure,” reflecting the city’s anxiety of losing to Miryang.

But despite the majority Saenuri sentiment apparently tilted towards Miryang, the ruling party is also forced to pay attention to Busan, which has recently been showing signs of switching its longtime support for the conservative party to the more progressive opposition camp.

In the April 13 general election, the Saenuri Party lost six constituencies there, five to The Minjoo Party of Korea and one to an independent candidate. This change of political sentiment has led to concerns that the city may turn further away from it in the 2017 presidential election.

The Minjoo Party has also grown vocal on the issue, seeking to play a role in guarding the airport project for Busan.

“The selection of the airport site should be based on fair, objective, and transparent rules,” said Moon Jae-in, the former chairman and top-ranking presidential potential of the party, during his visit to Gadeokdo Island on Thursday.

As a former Busan lawmaker, Moon has received steady support in Busan and the nearby Gimhae, the hometown of the late liberal President Roh Moo-hyun, for whom he had served as chief of staff.

“Even Mayor Suh, a key pro-Park figure, raised doubts about the appraisal process, to which the government should respond with proper explanation and full exposure of the relevant data.”

But Rep. Kim Boo-kyum, a rare Minjoo figure to be elected in Daegu, expressed disapproval over Busan’s fierce resistance, claiming the city should respect the evaluation report as earlier agreed.

The state-led airport plan was initiated in 2011, amid growing concerns on the lack of air transport infrastructure in the southern part of the country, but was scrapped in its early stages due to low commercial viability.

The idea was, however, revived in the following year, as then-presidential candidate Park Geun-hye included it among her campaign pledges.

Gimhae Airport, the only airport in the vicinity, has long exceeded its full capacity in terms of passengers and runways. According to the Land Ministry data, the number of passengers at Gimhae Airport reached 5.9 million in 2015, up 22.3 percent from the previous year, while its yearly capacity stands at 5.4 million.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)