On November 25, Kang Mingu, the chief prosecuting attorney of Seoul High Court, ruled the same as the first trial that 6089 plaintiffs from a civil lawsuit party, who filed a lawsuit against the Minister of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs in order to cancel the whole restoration project, lost in the court.
The court announced reasons for the judgment, “The work scope of defendant did not go beyond its discretion in accordance with the business purpose, content, and all side effects. And regarding the plaintiffs’ concerns on increased risk and disasters by the project, water quality degradation, and destruction of ecosystems, it was recognized that the claim is lack of evidence.” The court also included, “It is not a reason enough to cancel out the project that the environmental impact assessment had been made only within three months and longterm comprehensive plan of water resources projects is absent,” because “Despite the fact that there would be or expected to be some damage in reality, it is difficult to see that the damage will go beyond what this project is to achieve.” The National Action of the citizens filed an administrative litigation to Seoul Administrative Court, Busan District Court, Daejeon District Court, and Jeonju District Court to stop respectively the projects of the Han River, the Nakdong River, the Geum River, and the Yeongsan River that the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project has problems, but lost in all original trials.
