UNDERSEA TUNNEL . . .

Japan–Korea Undersea Tunnel

The Japan–Korea Undersea Tunnel is a proposed tunnel project to connect Japan with Republic of Korea (South Korea) via an undersea tunnel crossing the Korea Strait using the strait islands of Iki and Tsushima, a straight-line distance of approximately 128 kilometers (80 mi) at its shortest.

The proposal, under discussion since 1917, was followed with more concrete planning during the early 1940s. It was not pursued, however, until after World War II. In early 2008 the proposal came under renewed discussions by ten senior Japanese lawmakers who established a new committee to pursue it. This was followed by a study group from both countries in early 2009 that agreed to form a committee for the creation of specific construction plans. Committee head Huh Moon-do, a former director of South Korea's National Unification Board and also a key member of the former Chun Doo-hwan government, said the tunnel would help regional economics and would "also play a key role in pursuing bilateral free trade talks" that are currently stalled.

The proposed tunnel would be more than 200 km long and able to serve a portion of the shipments between the two countries, which rose from approximately $40 billion in combined trade for 1999 to just over $89 billion in 2008, as well as some of the 20,000 people who traveled daily between the countries in 2009.