No Commercial Complex in Yongsan Park

The Yongsan garrison that covers 810,000 pyeong will be recreated as a large park in Seoul.

The government decided to accept the request from Seoul city which asked the government to clearly state the size and boundary of Yongsan garrison in the special act, which was stimulated by worry over the recent move to use the site for commercial purpose.

Kim Chun-seok, vice president of the Yongsan Park Building Promotion Team under the direction of Office for Government Policy Coordination, said yesterday, “Considering the construction schedule and the current public antipathy, it is practically impossible to build a commercial complex within the Yongsan park,” adding, “Now, we are working on including a statement in the special act, as requested by Seoul city, that promises not to develop a commercial complex within Yongsan park and include the precise size and boundary of Yongsan garrison to prevent any attempt for commercial development.”

In fact, last month, Seoul city tendered a bill to ask an amendment of Yongsan Park Special Act which asked to include the clear statement of size and boundary of the Yongsan garrison and called for the deletion of a clause that confers the minister of Construction and Transportation with the right to change the usage of the park.

However, the Ministry of Construction and Transportation opposed this request by saying, “Including a precise figure is not consistent with the technical rule of legislation and there is no precedent case.”

In regard to this, Kim Seon-tae, director of the Yongsan Park Building Promotion Team, said, “The government doesn’t have any plan to raise the park construction funds by developing the site for commercial purpose,” adding, “810,000 pyeong, including 240,000 pyeong of main post and 570,000 pyeong south post, will be used as park site, and we just plan to sell the rest of the site such as lots for U.S. army transportation and around area. If we lack the funds even after selling these lots, we will supplement it with the national treasury.

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