Choo Mi-ae’s contradiction in Gyeonggi

The author is the deputy editor of Content Division Three and the head of corporate research at the JoongAng Ilbo. Compared with the political heat surrounding Seoul, Daegu and Busan ahead of the June 3 local elections, the race for governor of Gyeonggi — Korea's largest provincial government — has generated surprisingly little attention. Multiple opinion polls show Democratic Party candidate Choo Mi-ae maintaining a comfortable lead outside the margin of error. With the main opposition struggling to gain traction, the frontrunner has had little reason to campaign aggressively. Yet beneath the quiet campaign lies a revealing political contradiction. Until recently, Choo, then a lawmaker representing Hanam Gap, Gyeonggi, strongly opposed the expansion of the Dong Seoul substation converter facility in Hanam. Today, as a candidate for Gyeonggi governor, she is pledging to protect and expand the province's semiconductor belt. The conflict between those two positions has become one of the election's most overlooked issues. Choo, who previously won five terms in Seoul's Gwangjin District, entered Gyeonggi politics during the 2024 general election and secured a sixth term representing Hanam Gap. During her two years there, she left a significant mark by leading opposition to the final stage of a key national power grid project that would connect the East Coast to the Seoul metropolitan area. The 280-kilometer East Coast–capital region transmission network is considered one of Korea's highest-priority infrastructure projects. The plan involved converting alternating current electricity generated at East Coast power plants into direct current, transmitting it through a high-voltage direct current, or HVDC, system to the Dong Seoul substation and converting it back into alternating current for households and industrial complexes in the capital region. The primary beneficiaries were expected to be semiconductor clusters and residents concentrated in southern Gyeonggi. Korea Electric Power Corporation spent years persuading residents in dozens of villages across Gangwon and other regions to allow transmission lines to pass through their communities. Yet because the converter station at the endpoint could not be completed, the entire project has effectively been stalled for more than two years. Since the launch of the Lee Jae Myung administration, the government has taken a larger role under the Special Act on Expanding the National Power Grid. The minister of Climate, Energy and Environment has even held meetings with residents. But finding an alternative site remains difficult given the physical requirements of transmission infrastructure. Few residents welcome ultra-high-voltage transmission towers or lines near their homes. That reality makes the role of politicians and administrators especially important. They must persuade communities to accept infrastructure projects that serve broader national interests. Simply insisting "not in my neighborhood" makes it difficult to speak credibly about the larger community. That is why Choo's current position raises difficult questions. If a politician who once stood at the forefront of resistance to power infrastructure now seeks to lead Gyeonggi as a semiconductor hub, voters may reasonably ask how she reconciles the contradiction. Across Gyeonggi, many communities are already opposing new HVDC transmission routes, wearing banners that declare their determination to protect local livelihoods. Yet supplying electricity to the province's growing semiconductor fabs and industrial complexes will require importing power not only from the East Coast but also from western and southern coastal regions. If those transmission routes are blocked, Korea could face a situation in which electricity is generated but cannot be delivered, or semiconductor facilities are completed without sufficient power to operate. Some may dismiss such reversals as ordinary politics. Politicians often shift positions de...