YEONGGWANG, South Jeolla Province — Local residents took to the streets demanding transparent and fair distribution of compensation related to offshore wind power projects in Yeonggwang County, South Jeolla Province.
The Yeonggwang County Citizens' Cooperative Association held a rally in front of the Yeonggwang County Office on Monday, calling for fair and transparent implementation of offshore wind projects. An estimated 1,500 people attended the gathering, according to organizers, to denounce individuals posing as fishermen to claim compensation from offshore wind developers despite not actually engaging in fishing operations.
"Fake organizations, fake fishermen, and illegal groups are expanding and organizing indiscriminately for the purpose of compensation," the association said. "They are causing confusion by spreading exaggerated figures."
Currently, 17 power generation companies are pursuing offshore wind projects totaling 11 gigawatts in waters near Yeonggwang County and in the Exclusive Economic Zone. This represents the largest concentration of such projects in any single region nationwide, with eight companies having begun full-scale preparations.
The flashpoint of the conflict lies in the distorted distribution structure that emerged during private companies' damage assessments and compensation calculations.
Under the offshore wind community participation system, individuals recognized as "affected fishermen" stand to receive approximately 4.6 million won per person in future profit-sharing benefits. General county residents, however, would receive only about 270,000 won — a gap of 17 times.
The association claims that fake rights holders have surged recently, exploiting this disparity by inflating fishing days or fraudulently registering non-existent bare-hand fishing operations.
Residents voiced concerns that developers citing hundreds of billions of won in complaint-handling costs and fisheries cooperatives demanding guaranteed compensation are locked in a standoff using "rights holder consent" as leverage. They added that the lack of clear guidelines for determining actual affected rights holders is fueling on-site confusion and fraudulent registrations.
"The county must step in directly to thoroughly block fake fishermen exploiting the system and immediately implement a transparent verification system that the majority of residents can accept," said Kim Sun-young, senior director of the Yeonggwang County Citizens' Cooperative Association.
Yeonggwang County finds itself in a difficult position, as compensation procedures are led by private companies and the government cannot directly intervene.
"The companies plan to conduct compensation after thoroughly verifying actual fishing operations through professional consulting services, so we do not expect situations that would concern residents to arise," a county official said.