A 'Giant Lung' to Emerge in Central Seoul... Yongsan Park Plan Unveiled

Opening Event for Officers' Quarters Complex 5 at Yongsan Base on the 21st and First Public Disclosure of Development Plan
16 Years Since the 2005 National Park Development Plan Announcement

Officers' Quarters Complex 5 to Be Opened to the Public Starting Next Month

Police Agency Facility, Originally Scheduled for Yongsan Park Relocation, to Move to Railway Maintenance Depot
Park Area to Increase from Existing 2.43 Million㎡ to 2.9 Million㎡

Yongsan Park International Competition Winning Development Plan Bird's-eye View (Provided by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport)

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] The outline of Yongsan Park, which will become the giant lung of the Seoul metropolitan area on 2.91 million square meters in the heart of Seoul, has been revealed for the first time.

On the 21st, the government held an opening event for the 5th complex of the officer housing within the Yongsan Park site, together with Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, Yoo Hong-jun, co-chairman of the Yongsan Park Creation Promotion Committee, related organizations, and citizens. On this day, the winning plan from the international competition, the 'Healing: The Future Park' by the West8, Iroje, and Dongil team, was also unveiled for the first time.

Yongsan Park began in 2005 when the Roh Moo-hyun administration announced plans to develop the Yongsan base into a national park. Subsequently, the Yongsan Park Development Special Act was enacted in 2007, and the comprehensive basic plan for Yongsan Park was established in 2011. In 2016, the U.S. military forces stationed at the Yongsan base relocated to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, marking the start of full-scale development.

The development plan revealed on this day was prepared in November 2018 after six years of work following the international competition held in 2012. This is the first time it has been made public.

Aerial perspective of the winning international competition design plan exhibited within Yongsan Park (Photo by Lee Chunhee)

The plan proposes the concepts of healing the terrain, healing history, healing nature, and healing connections as the park’s planning principles. It aims to heal the core green axis of Seoul, which extends from Bugaksan Mountain through Namsan Mountain to the Han River and Gwanaksan Mountain, while preserving traces of the land’s 114-year history of foreign occupation to heal history. It also seeks to heal nature by minimizing artificial structures and increasing green spaces, and to heal connections by removing high walls and reconnecting broken paths.

Chairman Yoo Hong-jun explained, "If we were not thinking about the future, it would have been difficult to create such an ecological park. When the U.S. military announced the return of the Yongsan base, many places wanted to build buildings, but all were blocked through the Yongsan Park Special Act." He added, "Building apartments here would solve real estate problems, but from a future-oriented perspective that we must give what we have endured for over 100 years to future generations in the right way, it paradoxically resulted in a natural ecological park." This was a clear rejection of recent proposals from some political circles, including Justice Party leader Sim Sang-jung, advocating housing supply through the Yongsan base.

The government plans to incorporate various ideas from the public based on the development plan revealed on this day. To this end, a 300-member public participation group will be formed next year to prepare a 'public recommendation plan.'

Officer Housing 5th Complex to Open to Citizens from Next Month... Additional Remodeling Directions to Be Decided Based on Public Opinions

On the afternoon of the 21st, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun (fourth from the left) and Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Hyun-mi (eighth from the left), who attended the park opening event at Officer's Quarters Complex 5 in Yongsan Park, Seoul, are listening to an explanation from Yoo Hong-jun, co-chairman of the Yongsan Park Development Promotion Committee (fifth from the left). (Provided by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport)

The officer housing 5th complex, confirmed as a preserved facility and holding the opening event on this day, is scheduled to be fully opened to the public on the 1st of next month. This complex, built on about 50,000 square meters with 16 residential buildings (129 households) and 2 management buildings totaling 18 buildings, was returned from the U.S. military in 1986. The Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH, formerly Korea Housing Corporation) built and operated it as rental housing for U.S. military officers until last year.

After securing ownership of the complex in January, the government remodeled 5 of the 18 buildings into exhibition spaces and other uses to open them to the public. These will be arranged as exhibition spaces, open houses, and resource rooms to help visitors satisfy their curiosity about the Yongsan base. The remaining 13 buildings will be remodeled and opened in the first half of next year after collecting ideas and opinions through public contests.

Admission will be free, and the complex will be open from Tuesday to Saturday every week. However, considering the current spread of COVID-19, the opening of some internal facilities such as exhibition spaces will be decided later based on the situation.

Park Area Expanded by Incorporating War Memorial and Others... Police Agency Facilities Scheduled for Relocation to Yongsan Maintenance Depot

Yongsan Park Boundary Expansion Proposal (Provided by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport)

Meanwhile, the 2nd Yongsan Park Creation Promotion Committee meeting was held on the same day, and the park boundaries were further expanded. The committee decided to incorporate 13,200 square meters of the former Defense Acquisition Program Administration site on the north side of Yongsan Park, originally planned for the Police Agency facilities, into the park boundary. This site, which was previously used as the Namyeong-dong Anti-Communist Investigation Office building, is to be converted into the Democratic Human Rights Memorial Hall, and the Police Agency facilities housed there were scheduled to be relocated.

However, with the recent announcement of the Yongsan Railway Maintenance Depot site development plan, it was agreed to relocate the Police Agency facilities to the Yongsan Maintenance Depot site to achieve a complete Yongsan Park. This agreement marks the first concrete development plan for the Yongsan Maintenance Depot, where only the supply of 8,000 housing units had been proposed.

A committee official said, "Accordingly, it is expected that the green axis from Namsan through Yongsan Park to the Han River can be fully restored without boundary disconnection at the park entrance." The site is expected to be incorporated into the park boundary within this year after completing administrative procedures such as parcel arrangement of the former Defense Acquisition Program Administration site.

Additionally, the committee approved a change notification for the Yongsan Park maintenance zone to incorporate military apartments, the War Memorial, Yongsan Family Park, and the National Museum of Korea into the park boundary, increasing the park area by 480,000 square meters. As a result, the Yongsan Park area expanded from the existing 2.43 million square meters to 2.91 million square meters. Including the planned Police Agency site, the area will increase further to 2.92 million square meters.

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Hyun-mi said, "This site opening is a very meaningful first step in returning the long-closed Yongsan base to the people. We will prepare various participation methods to develop Yongsan base into the first national park embodying the will for peace and the future together with the public."

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