Pohang Airport had been closed from Jul. 2014 and finally reopened on Apr. 25, 2016. The cause of long and tiresome resting phase of Pohang Airport came about eight years ago. In Jun. 2008, the city of Pohang granted POSCO the construction of new steel mill. Conflicts arose when marine military group found an unapproved building on the site of clearance for the aircrafts near the military base. It was a year after the Pohang city’s approval. POSCO had spent over 1 trillion KRW and the building was then 90 percent completed, and its height exceeded 19.4 meters over the legal regulation of 66.4 meters. With no going back to the construction, the marine, city of Pohang and POSCO finally settled on a solution, making the runway 378 meters longer. When the residents of Donghae-myeon fought back against the construction, the case was settled with Ministry of National Defense by raising the altitude of runway by four meters in Aug. 2014. 
Pohang Airport is back in action now. However, with KTX as a competitor and considering one route in hand (Pohang to Seoul) that costs at least 60,000 KRW, its competence is still questionable.