The government on Thursday officially proclaimed it wants to turn the U.S. military base in Yongsan, central Seoul into a park when U.S. Forces Korea headquarters moves to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. The announcement came at a ceremony in front of the National Museum. But already trouble is brewing between central government and Seoul City as Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon stayed away from the event.
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President Roh Moo-hyun attends a ceremony officially announcing government plans to turn the U.S. base in Yongsan into a park, in front of the Theater Yong in the National Museum in Yongsan, Seoul on Thursday.
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The government says it plans to lay out a massive park to preserve the green zone and commemorate the history of the area by 2045, the 100th anniversary of Korea¡¯s liberation from Japanese colonial rule. ¡°It feels as though Yongsan is finally returning to Korea,¡± President Roh Moo-hyun said in an address. ¡°After Japan occupied Korea, Yongsan was used as a stronghold for an imperialist country¡¯s invasion and rule. And after Korea achieved liberation, the U.S military stationed there reminded us of the fact that Korea relies on the U.S for national defense. But a park will be built in the area to symbolize the independence and peace of Korea.¡±
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A 15 m-tall sculpture made of bamboo trees is displayed in Yongsan, Seoul to mark the government¡¯s plan to turn the U.S. base there into a park. The shape of a dragon poised to ascend symbolizes the area whose name literally means ¡°dragon mountain.¡±
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But the Seoul Metropolitan Government and some activists are up in arms about the plan, saying the central government is trying to legislate a special law to pave the way for development of some portion of the base in a bid to finance the relocation of the U.S. base. In a statement, Seoul City denounced the plan ceremony as ignoring the hopes of Seoul citizens to see the entire base area turned into a park. ¡°The central government says it will turn the whole area of the base into a park, but it turns a deaf ear to the Seoul Metropolitan Government¡¯s demand to scrap Article 14 of the special law that would allow it to use the park for other purposes,¡± the statement says. ¡°It has also rejected our proposal to specify the total scale and boundary of the park in the law.¡±
The city government worries that the Construction Ministry would develop some portion of the land for commercial and residential purposes to finance the base relocation and wants the ministry guarantee that 810,000 pyeong (one pyeong=3.3 sq.m) of the 870,000-pyeong land will be turned into a park. The ministry rejected the request, saying it will as a matter of principle turn the total area into a park and there is no need to specify the use of the land in the special law since existing law provides a legal basis for establishment of facilities in the park.
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A bird¡¯s eye view of the U.S military base in Yongsan, Seoul
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The city warns it will oppose the plan by petition to the Constitutional Court or pushing for an alternative law. Some 30 environmental groups including the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement and Green Korea also urged the government to scrap the special law. ¡°The plan to build a park in Yongsan should be a project to restore national pride and protect an ecosystem in Seoul,¡± they said at a press conference. ¡°We cannot tolerate the central government¡¯s plan to sell a portion of the land and allow the construction of commercial and residential facilities to finance the relocation of the U.S. base.¡±
What to do with the Yongsan area when the base is gone has been discussed since the late 1980s, when negotiations for the base relocation started. A majority of the public agrees to preserving the last big green area in central Seoul as it is and to pass it onto the next generation. Prof. Kim Ki-ho of the Graduate School of Environmental Studies at Seoul National University says Yongsan has been at the center of public attention, but the government seems in a hurry to make the announcement without deliberation. ¡°It should have made the decision on ways to secure costs for the U.S base relocation and to build the park in public discussion,¡± he added.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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