South Korea: IUCN, NGOs square off over decision to hold global conference near site of new military base construction
As construction of a hotly contested naval base on South Korea’s Jeju Island advances, there’s a showdown underway.
Korean groups, increasingly aided by sympathetic outsiders, are protesting the base which they say is being built in Gangjeong village under pressure from the United States.
But the latest battle isn’t between base protestors and Korea’s military or police, it’s between the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and those opposing its upcoming Sep. 6-15 World Conservation Congress (WCC) at Jungmon resort, seven km from Gangjeong.