Saemangeum Seawall – South Korea

The Saemangeum Seawall, located on the southwest coast of the Korean peninsula, is the world’s longest man-made dyke, measuring 33 kilometres. It runs between the Yellow Sea and the former Saemangeum estuary. The construction of the Saemangeum Seawall has caused controversy from the moment it was announced as environmental groups protested against the impact of the dyke on the local environment.

In 1991, the South Korean government announced that a dyke would be constructed to link two headlands just south of the South Korean industrial port city of Gunsan, 270 kilometres southwest of Seoul, to create 400 square kilometres of farmland and a freshwater reservoir. Since then, the government has spent nearly 2 trillion won on construction of the dyke, with another 220 billion won budgeted on strengthening the dyke and a further 1.31 trillion won to transform the tidal flats into arable land and the reservoir.

Supreme Court challenges in 1999 and 2005 led to temporary production stoppages but ultimately failed to stop construction of the seawall, which was opened in April 2006 and is 500 metres longer than the Afsluitdijk in Zuiderzee, the Netherlands, previously the longest seawalldyke in the world.

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