Protesters on Tuesday filled a hall inside Nuri Dream Square in Sangam-dong, Mapo District in Seoul, Tuesday, objecting to the Seoul Metropolitan Government's plan to build a new waste incinerator plant in the district. The crowd forced the city officials to cancel a town hall meeting they had arranged to be held there. Yonhap

By Ko Dong-hwan

Seoul Metropolitan Government's plan to host a town hall meeting with the residents of the city's western district of Mapo to explain how the district was chosen to house another waste incinerator plant at Nuri Dream Square in the Sangam-dong area came to a halt as angry residents raised their voices and protested against the city authorities for the decision. The meeting turned into a melee as upset protestors fiercely opposed the plan and prevented the city authorities from running the event.

Hundreds of protesters on Tuesday raided Nuri Dream Square where the city government had planned a meeting with local residents to explain in detail how the authority came to decide to introduce another incinerator plant there. The protesters filled the hall reserved for the meeting with banners bearing messages against the city's controversial project and voiced their anger over the planned waste incinerator plant.

The protesters started gathering in front of Nuri Dream Square two hours before the scheduled meeting at 3 p.m. They showed their determination to prevent the meeting from happening. As soon as entering the hall, they rushed the stage while some resorted to using foul language or blowing whistles. During the process, they clashed with officials from the city government's Climate and Environment Headquarters that had set up the meeting.

Due to the protest, the officials at the scene called off the meeting and postponed it indefinitely.

The Resources Recycling Division under the Climate and Environment Headquarters, which has been handling the issue, which has only worsened since last August, said Wednesday that they will take legal action against those who led Tuesday's protest. The officials said they will not tolerate the protesters whom they say, "Prevented the meeting from happening in a sound manner, turned the scene out of control, and clashed physically with the city government officials."

A Seoul Metropolitan Government official is grabbed by protesters in a meeting hall at Nuri Dream Square, where the city government was explaining its controversial decision to build an incinerator plant in Sangam-dong, Mapo District, Tuesday. Yonhap

"I'm sure that not all the residents of Mapo disagree with our bid to introduce a new incinerator plant there," Lee Gyeong-choon from the Resources Recycling Division of the city government told The Korea Times on Wednesday.

Bae Jae-geun, chief of the city government's special incineration plant site selection committee, said that it is "regrettable that our first attempt to answer questions from the residents and resolve their misunderstandings in person has been canceled." He added he will arrange another meeting in Mapo and also establish a discussion group consisting of local residents and experts to keep the communications between two sides running.

The canceled meeting, jointly arranged by the city government and the site selection committee, was going to explain in detail to residents the new plant's necessity and how Mapo was chosen as the site for the project, including by revealing the points the city authority gave to each of the 36 candidate sites in the city and in which categories the points were given. The meeting was also going to make public the transcribed records of the meetings held by the site selection committee.

Since the Seoul Metropolitan Government last August made the controversial plan to introduce a second incinerator plant in Mapo, a number of local residents have been rallying against the Seoul City Council. Mapo District Office Head Park Kang-soo has been at forefront of resistance to the city government's plan.

As Sudokwon Landfill in Incheon has announced they will no longer accept daily household waste from Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province starting in 2026, the city government argues that an additional incinerator plant is needed. The city currently operates four incinerator plants in locations across the city and one private plant.