The Navy is facing a compensation claim worth more than 23 billion won ($19.5 million) from a construction firm after severe protests delayed a project to build a naval base on Jeju Island, a parliamentary report showed Tuesday.
  

Daelim Engineering & Construction Co., a contractor on the project, has filed a lawsuit, demanding that the Navy pay 23.1 billion won for the loss caused by protesters, the parliamentary report by Rep. Chung Mi-kyung of the ruling Saenuri Party showed.
  

The indemnity claim is second of its kind after the Navy paid 27.3 billion won in compensation to Samsung C&T Corp. last month for the financial burden stemming from the delayed construction.
  

Samsung C&T, another contract builder for the project, kept its laborers and construction equipment ready as the construction, initially scheduled to begin in 2010, did not kick off until 2012 due to protests from environmental and other civic activists.
  

The Navy plans to settle Daelim's compensation suit through an arbitration body because it cannot accept the compensation amount claimed, according to the report.  
  

Environmental and village protesters had staged massive rallies against the naval project on the southern resort island of Jeju, leading to a major delay in construction.
  

In efforts to solidify naval defense near the island, the Navy created the plan in 2007 to build a harbor big enough to accommodate 20 battleships and two cruise vessels near Gangjeong village on the southern tip of the island.
  

If completed as scheduled by the end of this year, the 1 trillion won project will provide South Korea with a launching point from which to send naval vessels into southern waters, a key trade route for the country. (Yonhap)