Three days of interfaith prayers against the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project

(Oct.06,2010) South Korea’s four main religious denominations are still together to stop the “Four Major Rivers Restoration Project”, a major development undertaken by the administration of President Lee Myung-bak. Catholics, Protestants, mainstream Buddhists and members of the Buddhist Jogye Order, agreed to a three-day prayer vigil against the plan. Religious leaders are also planning to boycott the companies that are backing the project. A pet project of the South Korean president, it involves a number of works that would affect the country’s four main rivers. Seoul would be linked to Busan by a 540-kilometre super “water highway” that would also connect the Han and Nankdong Rivers. The diocese of Incheon already disapproved the project in 2008. For critics, the whole plan could threaten drinking water and the country’s environmental stability. For the government, it is a “unique” opportunity to move the transportation of goods from roads to waterways and revive the tourist sector. Religious groups announced on Sunday that they would carry out a prayer vigil and boycott the project. They also said that they are planning to campaign for a referendum on the project, as part of a movement of civil disobedience against the Lee Myung-bak administration.
Others are organising pilgrimages and torchlight rallies at construction sites.
If carried out, the boycott would affect some of the country’s main companies, including Hyundai, Samsung, Daewoo, Posco and the Hanyang Consortium.