Gyeongju City Recovers 253 Privately Owned Parcels as 'Public Land'... Wins Transfer Registration Cases in the Past 5 Years

641 Billion KRW Worth ... 14 Parcels (2936㎡) Currently Under Litigation

Panoramic view of Gyeongju City Hall.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Jae-ho] Gyeongju City, Gyeongbuk Province, announced on the 20th that it has reclaimed land worth approximately 64.1 billion KRW so far after initiating efforts to recover city-owned land such as roads that had been privately owned over the past five years.

The properties for which ownership was transferred to Gyeongju City include 253 parcels totaling 71,888㎡ around Gyeongju Station, Seongdong Market area, Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond area, and roads near Woljeonggyo Bridge.

Since filing the first lawsuit in April 2015, Gyeongju City has won most of the ownership transfer lawsuits. If the ongoing lawsuits for 14 parcels (2,936㎡) are concluded by next year, an additional 3.9 billion KRW will be reclaimed.

The city’s ongoing project to recover city-owned assets involves reclaiming ownership through lawsuits for land that remains under private names after the completion of public interest projects.

According to Gyeongju City, most of the targeted land was established as public land from the Japanese colonial period through the 1970s. There are no compensation-related records, and since most owners have passed away, difficulties have been encountered in confirming heirs’ rights.

Oh Young-shin, head of Gyeongju City’s Accounting Department, stated, "We have been winning ownership transfer lawsuits by utilizing advice from lawyers and judicial scriveners, collecting urban planning data, past newspaper articles, official gazettes, and precedents." He added, "Using the know-how accumulated so far, we will actively focus on recovering city-owned assets by filing additional lawsuits for more than 30 parcels next year."

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