The Jeju Undersea Tunnel is a proposed undersea tunnel project to connect the South Korean provinces of South Jeolla and Jeju across the Jeju Strait, with intermediate stops at the islands of Bogildo and Chujado. The proposed 73 km tunnel is scheduled to take 11 years to complete and is budgeted at 14.6 trillion South Korean won (11.2 billion US Dollars).
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History
The underwater tunnel would allow the KTX bullet train to connect the port city of Mokpo and Jeju island. On June 19 2013, the provincial government requested that the central government include KRW 10bn as part of the 2014 fiscal year budget to study and plan for the tunnel. The total length of the proposed railway is 167 km, including a 66 km surface interval from Mokpo to Haenam, a 28 km bridge section from Haenam to Bogil Island, and a 73 km stretch from Bogil Island to Chuja Island and Jeju Island.
The provincial government predicts that by the time the project reaches completion, as many as 15 million passengers will take advantage of the service in a year, with an annual savings of KRW 42 tn in social cost and 140,000 newly created jobs.
The idea of connecting the southwestern port city with Korea's largest island in the south was first broached in 2007 by the governors of South Jeolla and Jeju Provinces.
The project is expected to catalyze new growth in two underdeveloped regions. The undersea railway is set to be operated in conjunction with the Seoul-Mokpo express train project currently underway.
Political difficulties
Residents of Jeju have raised concerns that construction of the tunnel may impact the island's indigenous culture.
The proposal was shelved because of the high cost and technological challenge of building the world's longest underwater tunnel.
As of August 2014, it was planned to include the project in the master plan for railway infrastructure.