The Ministry of National Defense designated Gangjeong Village located on the southern shores of Jeju Island as the site for the construction of a naval base in 2007. Since then, the decision has brought about severe confict among the people concerned, Navy and Jeju local government.
This paper examines the issue of public interest judgment in case of public confict such as Jeju naval base construction. The fundamentals of the conflict in the case come from the justification on the part of the government’s decision. In the case of the navy, through the construction of its base, it purports the abstract concept of national security as its goal. On the other hand, it proceeded with its goal without suffcient evidence and justifcation as to why there is a need for a naval base in Jeju and why the ideal site has to be Gangjeong Village. The government (navy) is looking at the construction of the base from a national project point of view as a policy while the residents are approaching the problem from the matter of principle of community interest as a whole. This forms the fundamentals of confict and ultimately has resulted in a practical failure and postponement in the execution of the government policy.
Following the Flathman’s argument, this paper has the perspective that securing justification in a public confict is the fundamental element in judging whether it is for the public interest or not. In order to do this, this paper focuses on the evidence and validity of various arguments surrounding the naval base construction and through them, look closely into the cause and effect of public confict and ultimately the alternative meaning of public interest. In addition, it seeks to point out the limits of policy approaches and conficts that appear due to differences in opinions regarding public interest when dealing with public issues that are lacking in values.

Abstract
 I. Raising the Issue
Ⅱ. The Justification of Public Undertakings
 III. The Dispute over the Construction of the Jeju Naval Base
 IV. The Cause and Results of the Public Conflict: Discussions and Implications
  1. The Principles of the Outcome
  2. The Principles of Universalizability
  3. Procedural Justification
  4. The Perspective of the Communal Values
 V. Epilogue
 

• Kyung Won Lee(Jeju Nat’l Univ)