Could Mooney build the world's longest undersea tunnel connecting Japan and South Korea?
Text: Kenji Hall
Illustration: Eiko Ojala
For Hirofumi Sato, world peace is not just a pipe dream. He knows what an undersea tunnel linking Japan and South Korea could produce. "Transnational infrastructure will end the possibility of war," Sato said in his Tokyo office, where impressive blueprints of an elaborate highway hang on the wall. "This can bring about lasting peace, and borders and walls between nations will become meaningless."
It's a catchphrase Sato uses in meetings with Japanese lawmakers. As chairman of the International Highway Foundation (IHF), he has been telling the Japanese government for years that a tunnel linking Karatsu, on Kyushu Island in southwest Japan, to Busan, on the southeastern tip of the Korean peninsula, is worth investing in.
At 250 km, it would be the longest undersea tunnel in the world, four times longer than Japan's Seikan Tunnel (the rail tunnel connecting Honshu and Hokkaido) and five times longer than the Channel Tunnel. The International Highway Foundation estimates that construction would take at least 15 years and cost around 10 trillion yen (86 billion euros), but this does not take into account potential delays or the many technical challenges of excavating the soft layers of the West Tsushima Strait. And is the project even feasible? Despite more than 30 years of lobbying by the International Highway Foundation, progress has been slow.
But Sato doesn't let his frustration show. He explains that the International Highway Foundation is responding to the will of the late Reverend Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church (now the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification), and a calling from God. Moon proposed the international highway and Japan-Korea tunnel in 1981. He envisioned a family living in Tokyo driving to London. Five months later, the International Highway Foundation (formerly the International Highway Corporation) was founded.
Today, the Family Federation for World Peace is funding the International Highway project. What was originally planned as a road tunnel has now evolved into a railway tunnel modeled after the Eurotunnel and Japan's Shinkansen bullet trains. Since the International Highway Foundation was founded, 12 billion yen (103 million euros) has already been spent on planning, seabed surveys, and land acquisition in Kyushu, Tsushima, and Iki.
It's unclear how the International Highway Foundation will be able to garner broad support for its vision, but it will likely be even more difficult for Japan and South Korea, two countries that have often feuded, to agree on a high-level link. But both countries are considering the idea. In 2009, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak ordered a feasibility study, and a Japanese government advisory body has cited a Japan-Korea tunnel as one of its joint projects with Tokyo and Seoul. Last year, the mayor of Busan reportedly earmarked 200 million won (165,000 euros) for a review of the project.
The International Highway Foundation continues to pour money into construction, seeking support in Tokyo and Seoul. "Businessmen pull out if it's not profitable. Politicians drop plans if they face opposition. But we have a long-term view. There has to be someone willing to chase the dream," Sato said.
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