January 7, 2026
SEOUL – The idea of naming public facilities after former presidents has resurfaced in South Korea, as the late president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kim Dae-jung is being considered as a namesake for Muan International Airport in South Jeolla Province.
Jointly proposed by South Jeolla Province and Gwangju City, the plan would rename Muan Airport as part of a broader effort to integrate its functions with nearby Gwangju Airport.
The proposal has reignited debate not only over political symbolism, but over whether airports — unlike other public facilities — should be shielded from commemorative naming because of their close association with safety, regulation and state responsibility.
Muan Airport has remained closed since a fatal Jeju Air crash in December 2024. That context has sharpened criticism from civic groups and opposition voices, who argue that renaming the airport risks reframing public attention away from unresolved questions about oversight and accountability.
Supporters, meanwhile, say the proposal reflects regional pride and long-standing efforts to honor Kim’s legacy.
In late December 2025, Gwangju City and South Jeolla Province announced that they were seeking to integrate the functions of Gwangju Airport and Muan Airport under a new name honoring Kim.
“The name change is being viewed positively by the central government and the local governments involved in the airport integration,” a Gwangju City official said. “Detailed procedures will be handled by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation and Muan County.”
If approved, it would be the first airport in Korea to be named after a historical figure, a practice that is relatively common overseas, as seen with John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.
In Korea, however, airports have long stood apart from other public facilities when it comes to naming conventions.
Convention centers, libraries and streets routinely bear the names of former leaders, including the Kim Dae-jung Convention Center in Gwangju.
Airports, by contrast, have largely been treated as functional infrastructure — spaces where neutrality, safety and administrative accountability have traditionally outweighed symbolic commemoration.
Kim, the only president to hail from the Jeolla provinces, remains a defining political figure in the region.
A longtime democracy activist during South Korea’s decades of military rule, he served as president from 1998 to 2003 and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000. He died in 2009.
“Kim’s legacy in Korean politics is firmly established,” said Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University. “Both major parties continue to invoke his political spirit.”
But while Kim’s historical standing is widely acknowledged, he is still known as a figure of the left. Critics argue that attaching his name to an airport — particularly one linked to a recent disaster — inevitably pulls infrastructure into the arena of factional politics.
Public opinion on the proposal remains divided. A poll conducted by Gallup Korea and News1, released Tuesday, showed residents of South Jeolla Province nearly evenly split, with 47 percent in favor and 43 percent opposed.
Support was higher among respondents who identified as progressive, while opposition was stronger among centrists and conservatives.
The split reflects how airport naming debates tend to amplify broader political alignments, even when the figure in question commands wide historical respect. Analysts say infrastructure tied to safety and governance tends to attract sharper scrutiny than cultural or commemorative facilities.
A similar controversy has emerged in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, where local governments are pushing for the completion of a new airport by 2029 and have proposed naming it after former president Park Chung-hee.
The idea was raised in 2021 by Hong Joon-pyo during the main opposition People Power Party’s presidential primary and later received support from North Gyeongsang Province Gov. Lee Cheol-woo.
“The airport’s name is usually decided close to its completion,” the governor said in June 2024. “At that time, I believe there will be sufficient public consensus.”
Park, who was born in North Gyeongsang Province and educated in Daegu, is widely credited by conservatives with laying the foundation for Korea’s industrialization, while Kim is more strongly associated with progressive politics.
The two figures represent opposing political legacies, with Kim having been a leading dissident during Park’s authoritarian rule in the 1970s.
Preferences toward the two presidents continue to shape political geography in Korea, with parties seen as their successors often securing overwhelming support in their respective regional heartlands.
Civic groups have strongly criticized the Park naming proposal, calling it a political move aimed at mobilizing conservative voters.
“It is not desirable to use a public facility’s name for political purposes,” an official from People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy said.
“Former president Park also has a record that remains deeply controversial due to his dictatorship.”
Taken together, the debates over Kim and Park illustrate why airports are treated differently from other public spaces, reflecting their connection to public safety, state accountability and political identity.
With the final decision resting with the central government, officials will have to balance regional sentiment with concerns that infrastructure naming, once politicized, can reshape how responsibility and memory are assigned.
“Since the final decision rests with the central government, it will have to weigh opinions from both sides,” said an official from a political party’s regional committee.