굴포천 개착과 ‘경인운하’계획

Abstract

There are currently two National Rivers in Incheon. One is Gulpocheon, designated in December, 2016, which rises from Mount Manwol, Bupyeong- gu, Incheon. It flows through the downtown and the industrial complex of Bupyeong, and joins Han River at Tae-ri, Gochon-eup, Gimpo, Gyeonggi-do. It is 20.73 kilometers in total length. The other, designated in January, 2011, is Aracheon, 18.8 kilometers in total length. It rises from the mainstream of Han River, at Gaehwa-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, and flows into the West Sea, at Gyeongseo-dong, Seo-gu, Incheon. Unlike Gulpocheon, Aracheon, as known as Gyeongin Ara Waterway, is the first and only artificial waterway in Korea. It was built beginning in 2009 and opened in 2012. Commonly, those who agree on waterway construction, mention about the excavation works in Gulpocheon began about eight hundred years ago, in order to justify it. However, considering that the meaning of “Gulpo” is to dig up the earth, it is difficult to directly concatenate the excavation works in Gulpocheon with waterway construction. Besides, there is little historical evidence. The author presumes that it was a kind of river improvement project. In the midstream and downstream of Gulpocheon, the basin was 4-5 meters lower than the flood level of Han River, so it had suffered from floods every year. Also, it had suffered from severe drought due to lack of irrigation facilities. People had tried to make the land fertile and liveable a long time ago. According to the records, land development was activated in the basin of Gulpocheon in the early twelfth century. Several monumental inscriptions show that people had dug up the earth to increase the width and the depth of water. Even in the reign of King Taejong, a special irrigation facility called Sutongje’eon (水桶堤堰) was built, which could water the land of about one thousand gyeol. Attempts had been made to use Gulpocheon for water transport. Choi Yi and Kim An-Ro wrote about Gulpo Waterway, but it is very hard to prove. Moreover, the episodes were written two-hundred and seventy years later. Japanese planned to build Bupyeong Waterway in 1905, and, in the colonial period, their plans of Gyeongin Waterway contained water transport, getting water for agricultural and industrial use, and even building a tidal power plant. The latter never get off the ground due to financial difficulty. It was nothing but a propaganda to glorify Japanese rule of Korea. After the Liberation, Korean government had had plans of Gyeongin Waterway which modified Japanese plans, but they were also window dressing to advertise its accomplishments and legitimacy.