Did former South Korean President Moon Jae-in's "demolition" of the weir system in South Korea's major rivers cause the massive floods that affected the country recently? No, that's not true: None of the weirs in the four main rivers' project have been demolished.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published by @togota1233 on Tiktok on July 18, 2023, under the title "물난리의 원인은 문재인 정부" or "Moon's government caused floods," as translated by Lead Stories staff. It opened:
Demolition of Gongju Weir caused floods.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue Jul 25 04:42:14 2023 UTC)
The video originated from a far-right Youtube channel called '어벤저스 전략회의 or "Avengers Skull Session," as translated by Lead Stories staff. In the video, the person speaking said:
This time, the Gongju has flooded, but the Gongju Weir has already been demolished.
However, the Gongju Weir still exists and operates to this day.
A total of 16 weirs were built in the early 2010s, all during former President Lee Myung-bak's administration (2008-2013). The construction of the system, under a project named "four main rivers plan," was strongly supported by Lee's government. The Gongju Weir is one of Lee's weirs, built under that project.
After the plan was completed, an unprecedented side effect came up; the quality of the water greatly decreased. The rivers barely flowed after the new system was put in place, and this change caused algae to bloom. Moon's government decided in 2021 to dismantle three of those weirs; two in the Chungcheong region (the Gongju Weir and the Sejong Weir) and one in Jeolla region (the Juksan Weir).
However, no action was taken, and the weirs are still in place since the current government, led by President Yoon Suk-yeol, reversed the decision and cancelled the demolition plan.
