S. Korea bets on city from sea

South Korea is betting a multi-billion dollar land reclamation project about seven times the size of Manhattan will lift the economy but environmentalists say it could be one of the country's biggest ecological blunders.

The Saemangeum land reclamation project uses a 33-km sea dyke to reclaim an area of 400 square kms, turning coastal tidelands that are key feeding areas for globally threatened birds into land for factories, golf courses and water treatment plants.

"This project is not about protecting the environment. It is about economic development. And we will do that in an environmentally sound way," said Park Hyoungbae, an official with the Saemangeum development authority.