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It has been learned that Camp Coiner, a part of the Yongsan Garrison, has been virtually selected as the site for the new U.S. embassy.
Meeting with reporters Tuesday, President Goh Kun was asked, "Did U.S. Vice President Cheney strongly request the Songhyeon-dong site when he visited Korea?" Goh responded, "No, he didn't. The government presented the Songhyeon-dong site, but the U.S. position was that it would be fine even if the new spot wasn't necessarily within the four old gates of Seoul... The problem's as good as solved."
Asked if the U.S. embassy would be moved to Yongsan's Camp Coiner, Goh responded, "There would be no major problem [if we did so]."
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Camp Coiner, a part of the Yongsan Garrison, as seen from above. The place has been virtually selected as the site for the new U.S. embassy.
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If Camp Coiner, currently owned by the Defense Ministry, is decided upon as a replacement site, it would replace the spot to which the move was originally planned -- the old site of Gyeonggi Girls High School.
Camp Coiner, located near Yongsan High School, is big enough to accommodate both an embassy and residences for embassy employees, and therefore has been considered a strong candidate as a construction site along with Songhyeon-dong.
The government originally planned on rebuilding the embassy at the old site of Gyeonggi Girls High School, but because of issues involving cultural properties in the area, construction would not have been easy at the site. Accordingly, the government has been searching out alternative sites.
If the case of the Songhyeon-dong site, currently owned by Samsung Life Insurance, it was used by the embassy as a residence for employees in the past and is close to the Government Complex and the old U.S. embassy. Due to a 16 meter height restriction in the neighborhood, however, it would be impossible to build a structure over five stories high.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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