Korea builds world’s longest seawall

The government yesterday announced the completion of the world’s longest seawall in a reclaimed tidal flat in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, nearly 20 years after launching of the project.

An aerial view of the 33.9-km-long Saemangeum dike on the west coast that was completed Tuesday. (Yonhap News)

Thousands of government officials, lawmakers and diplomats, including President Lee Myung-bak, attended the completion ceremony. The seawall was open to the public shortly afterward. 
The 33.9-kilometer seawall is the first part of the state project which aims to transform the Saemangeum tidal flat, located 280 kilometers south of Seoul, into a large cluster of industrial parks, tourism and leisure facilities, farmland, research centers and international business zones by 2020.
“If the government’s four-river restoration project is a way to give new life to the destroyed rivers, the Saemangeum project is the country’s first comprehensive plan to build a green city,” President Lee Myung-bak said in his congratulatory speech.