SEOUL — South Korea’s environmental sector is uniting to challenge the central government’s infrastructure blueprint. A coalition known as the Nationwide Emergency Environmental State Conference revealed plans on Friday to stage a mass protest in Seoul on the 12th of next month, signaling heightened friction over policies prioritizing industrial expansion over ecological preservation.

The coalition—which recently expanded its reach with backing from major religious and civic networks—is targeting a wide range of national projects. Among them are the sprawling Yongin semiconductor cluster, regional airport developments, new dam construction, and extensions for aging nuclear reactors.

Activists argue that the administration’s drive to secure power and water for high-tech industries, including semiconductors and artificial intelligence, is moving too fast without adequate environmental safeguards. Critics point to potential biodiversity loss, increased greenhouse gas emissions, and unvetted resource demands as major blind spots in current planning.

Rather than a blanket halt to all development, the groups are pressing for transparent, multi-stakeholder reviews. Their demands include public deliberation processes involving independent experts and affected local residents to weigh the long-term ecological costs.

As momentum builds toward next month’s demonstration, coalition members plan to tour vulnerable regions across the country—ranging from controversial cable car installations to major river basin development sites—to coordinate strategies with local communities fighting to protect their surrounding environments.

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