Gwangju Seo-gu Urges Promotion of 'Air Force Ammunition Depot Relocation Project'

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City (Mayor Seo Daeseok) recently urged the prompt advancement of the Air Force ammunition depot relocation project at the ‘Ammunition Depot Relocation Promotion National Assembly Meeting’ held at the National Assembly.

According to Seo-gu on the 29th, a meeting was recently held hosted by the Democratic Party of Korea’s Special Committee on Gwangju Military Airport and Ammunition Depot Relocation (Chair Yang Hyangja).

The meeting was attended by Seo Daeseok, Mayor of Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, the Director of Unit Construction Project at the Ministry of National Defense, Kim Yanggon, Chairman of the Ammunition Depot Relocation Promotion Committee, Gwangju city and district council members, local residents, and journalists.

Mayor Seo Daeseok of Seo-gu stated, “The Maruk-dong ammunition depot area corresponds to the center of Gwangju and is adjacent to new urban areas such as Sangmu and Geumho districts, where development pressure is high,” adding, “The relocation project of the off-base ammunition depot in Maruk-dong can no longer be delayed for balanced regional development.”

He further proposed a phased approach, first relocating the off-base ammunition depot to the already purchased site (on-base) as Phase 1, and then in Phase 2, promoting the relocation of the military airport or linking consolidation with military airports in other regions such as Daegu and Gunsan.

Park Jongin, Director of Unit Construction Project at the Ministry of National Defense, responded, “The ammunition depot relocation project inevitably has to be linked with the military airport, but we are considering what the best plan is from the perspective of regional development,” adding, “We will strive to promote the ammunition depot project as soon as possible based on community consensus.”

Meanwhile, the Maruk-dong Air Force ammunition depot was established in 1975 on a 370,000㎡ site in the Geumho and Maruk-dong areas, with a 2.12 million㎡ surrounding area including Byeokjin-dong and Geumho-dong designated as a military facility protection zone. Since then, in 2005, the Ministry of National Defense decided on the ammunition depot relocation project through a special accounting method, but the project has been on hold due to the logic that the relocation of the military airport and ammunition depot must be linked.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.