The canal was a project headed by Lee Myung Bak, who South Korea's president from 2008 to 2013. It is hugely controversial. Many Koreans object to this plan. Former president Lee said that he would not carry out this plan if many people objected to this idea, but there was a person who works in the Korea Institute of Construction Technology(한국건설기술연구원) has confessed that government's 'Four-Major-River Arrangement Plan' is a canal project in reality.