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Military seeks to exchange land for Lotte golf course

Posted October. 01, 2016 07:33,   

Updated October. 01, 2016 07:42

한국어

After South Korea selected the Lotte Skyhil Seongju Country Club as new site for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) based on inspections and eval‎uations of the joint working-level group of South Korea and the United States, people are paying attention to the issue of how the military will purchase the land.

The size of the golf course is 1.78 million square meters, which is 15 times larger than the Seongsan anti-aircraft missile base (116,584 m²) in Seongju. The Seongsan base was considered as the optimal site for THAAD. The military says that the size is appropriate given that the THAAD system’s six interception missile launchers are required to be placed in fan shape at least 500 meters off the radar. Among 1.78 million square meters in total, Lotte International Co. currently operates the 18-hole golf course in 960,000 square meters and the rest 820,000 square meters remains intact. While the military intends to secure the entire site of the golf course, it could use part of land as a physical training center for the U.S. army as the land is huge enough to deploy a THAAD battery and build relating facilities.

Lotte acquired the golf course, including the land and buildings, at a public sale at 89.3 billion won in 2009. For the military, a likely option is to swap the golf course with an equivalent plot of military-owned land considering a huge budget for direct purchase to compensate business rights and others. The military plans to negotiate the price and conditions after property estimations of both golf course and military-owned land according to the National Property Act. The Lotte golf club said Friday that the company would review the government proposal positively as it is a matter of national security.

The government sent an official request for cooperation to the Lotte golf club with regard to the selection of the site for THAAD a day before the announcement. Currently, Lotte hires some 20 employees and 70 caddies at the golf course. The company plans to continue the operation of the club during the negotiations. “The company will engage in the negotiations by striking a balance between national security and potential controversies over misappropriation of business, which may arise when disposing the land at dirt cheap price,” a company insider said.



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