Some 1,500 Catholics in South Korea asked the government to stop the highly controversial four rivers project before the rainy season.

The Catholic Solidarity for Deterrence of Four Major Rivers Project held a Mass for life and peace, celebrated by Bishop Matthias Ri Iong-hoon, president of the Korean Bishops’ Committee for Justice and Peace, yesterday at the Yeoju Catholic Church in Suwon diocese, near the Hangang river.

Florentius Kim Jae-uk, secretary-general of the Catholic movement, said: “We need to share the awareness of the dangerous river project with Catholics because the rainy season is coming.” The rainy season usually starts in late June in Korea.

Officially, the four rivers restoration project aims to dredge and improve four major rivers to prevent flood or drought damage and turn them into eco-friendly spaces of green culture and leisure.

But banks and cofferdams collapsed during the light spring rains and tens of thousands of residents suffered from an interruption to the water supply because of the government’s river project last May, the Catholic movement noted.

A statement from the group read: “The government should stop dredging the river bottom to minimize flood damage.”

The group has celebrated Mass for life and peace around the four rivers since March 2010.