Discovery of Ancient Relics Delays Pangyo Development Project

Discovery of Ancient Relics Delays Pangyo Development Project. August. 20, 2005 03:04. by Jae-Seong Hwang Kwawg-Pyo Lee jsonhng@donga.com kplee@donga.com.

A large discovery of ancient relics that trace back to the Paleolithic Age and the Baekje, Goryeo, and Joseon eras were found on properties in Seongnam city, Gyeonggi-do which are scheduled to be developed into Pangyo New Town.

Because the two project developers, the Korea Land Corporation and the Korea National Housing Corporation, plan to excavate the sites to assess the values of the relics, there is going to be some delay in the Pangyo New Town development schedule.

The Ministry of Construction and Transportation and the Cultural Heritage Administration said on August 19 that they had found 252 relics or cultural heritage items, including choppers from the Paleolithic Age, no-pattern earthenware from the Bronze Age, and housing artifacts from the Baekje Era in 24 properties measuring 340,000 pyeong that had been earmarked for development into the Pangyo New Town, including Pangyo-dong, Hasanun-dong and Sampyeong-dong in Seongnam city.

Furthermore, it was discovered that a big town site or farming site from the Three States Kingdoms are highly likely to be uncovered in an adjacent area.

The Korea Land Corporation and the Korea National Housing Corporation decided to excavate the 51,000 pyeong area where the cultural artifacts were uncovered. Seven properties, measuring 117,000 pyeong, have been excavated to search for the artifacts.

Under the cultural property protection law, any area which is larger than 30,000 square meters or 9,075 pyeong or which is very likely to contain cultural artifacts is subject to research of the earth surface and excavation work to find out whether there are any cultural assets buried in the area.

The latest uncovering of cultural assets is expected to delay the development project in the named areas for a considerable period of time. The development should wait until the excavation is completed and the cultural asset committee decides whether to designate the particular area as a historical site.

The 2,800,000 pyeong Pangyo development will be built by the end of 2009. The first phase of construction started on June 30 this year only for a section measuring 647,000 pyeong. Construction hasn’t started yet for the remaining two sections measuring 2,153,000 pyeong.