You have to love campaign promises:

Former Prime Minister Goh Kun is considering making the construction of an undersea tunnel linking South Korea and Japan as a key campaign pledge for the Dec. 19 presidential election, Goh’s aides said on Sunday.

The plan is construed as part of the presidential hopeful’s attempt to counter campaign pledges ranging from economic development to large-scale construction projects offered by other high-profile contenders such as former Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak and Rep. Park Geun-hye, former chairwoman of the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP).

“An advisory group for Goh recently recommended the undersea tunnel project. But it has not been adopted as an official campaign promise yet,” a spokesman for Goh’s election camp was quoted as saying by the Yonhap News Agency.

First of all, is it even feasible to dig a tunnel to Japan? The Korea Strait is roughly about 200 kilometers wide between Japan from South Korea which means this tunnel would be a much longer than the tunnel under the English Channel which is 34 kilometers long. Also the waters of the Korea Strait are twice as deep as the waters that separate France and England thus making the construction of the Korea Strait tunnel that much more difficult. Plus is building a tunnel across a major fault line in a earthquake prone area really a great idea?

Secondly, shouldn’t you first find out if the Japanese even want a tunnel from Korea going to Japan? Can you imagine all the Korean left hand drive vehicles flooding into Japan’s roads that use right hand drive vehicles that drive on the left? The car insurance rates for everyone living in Kyushu would sky rocket. Could you imagine what would happen the first time ajushi gets into a car accident with a Japanese driver and tries to beat him up as is often done in Korea? I think it is best to keep the cars in Korea. Plus I’m assuming the Korean government would expect Japan to help pay for the tunnel. Is it worth it for them to finance this tunnel? It seems like Korea has more to gain from this tunnel than Japan.

There are so many obvious questions about the feasibility of this tunnel it is just amazing that a Korean presidential candidate is even contemplating making this a campaign promise, but that is the beauty of the Korean presidential system; it is just one five year term so you can make all the campaign promises you want, no matter how outrageous, and not worry about keeping them because you don’t have to worry about reelection.

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