Oui Island, Buan-gun in Jellabuk-do was famous for croaker boat markets some time ago. The residents of the island share their memoirs, saying that dogs in the village were carrying money. The economic situation in the island declined now. All of a sudden, a gust of wind for a developing boom was blowing here in 2003. For decades, the government had tried to select a place for a radiation waste disposal facility as a national project, but failed several times. Oui Island emerged as a candidate for the waste disposal facility at that time. The situation went as followings; an angler said that the residents would be compensated for the construction of the waste disposal facility by cash; the county governor of Buan decided to apply for the facility by himself without agreement of the residents; the residents in Buan struggled against the facility construction even as they gave up their works finally. The Buan residents had struggled for three years against the government’s decision to build the waste disposal facility. The residents who agreed with the facility by the rumor of compensation with 500 million won for one resident in Oui Island changed their opinions. At the end, Buan started the unprecedented referendum for the decision of this national project. Why did they have to struggle against the facility, though Media and public opinion criticized them as regional self-centeredness or NIMBY? What does Gyeongju look like, after the city of Gyeongju decided to attract the waste disposal facility through a referendum?
The residents in Buan recall their struggle in 2003, when they have seen the candlelight vigil against the import of American beef, the tragedy in Yongsan and the Four-River Restoration Project. It is the ‘weapon of barbarism’ in our society that the national project made citizens compete each other by referendums on the pretext of formality. Here is the never-ending fight, the inexpressible story of Buan Struggle. And you will also see the parasitic reality in our life.

인구 7만이 안 되는 조그만 소도시 부안에서 2003년부터 3년 여간 방사선 폐기물 처분장 유치를 놓고 벌어졌던 이른바, ‘부안항쟁’은 나에게 큰 감동과 충격 이었다. 가장 민주화된 정권에서 아이러니하게도 민주주의가 우리 사회에 어떤 방식으로 구현되고 있는지 적나라하게 보여준 사건이었다. 이것은 ‘잘살아보 자’는 새로운 새마을운동인 재개발과 4대강사업 등의 모든 국책사업에 여전히 유효하게 작용하며 새로운 이름으로 등장하고 있다. 시간이 흐른 지금, 부안항 쟁은 서서히 기억이 아물 한 사건쯤으로 인식되어져 있다. 그러면, 우리 기억 속이 아물 한 만큼 이 땅의 민주주의는 발전하고 있는 것일까? 우리는 정말 잘 살고 있는 걸까? 이 물음에 대한 답을 한반도의 변방 조그만 소도시가 몸소 보여 준 ‘부안항쟁’에서 찾기 바라며...

2010 제15회 부산국제영화제