Supreme Court Rules "Pyeongtaek and Dangjin Port Reclaimed Land Under Pyeongtaek City Jurisdiction"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] Pyeongtaek City has won the final verdict in the boundary dispute that lasted over 20 years with Dangjin City, Chungnam Province, over the newly reclaimed land at Pyeongtaek-Dangjin Port. This follows the Supreme Court's ruling that there is no problem with the government's decision to place jurisdiction of the reclaimed land under Pyeongtaek City.

On the 4th, the Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Lee Gitaek) announced that it dismissed the plaintiffs' claims in the case where Chungcheongnam-do, Dangjin City, and Asan City filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of the Interior and Safety seeking cancellation of the jurisdiction decision over a portion of the Pyeongtaek-Dangjin Port reclaimed land.

This case questioned the appropriateness of the 2015 decision by the then Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety to allocate the reclaimed land between Pyeongtaek City and Dangjin City at a 7:3 ratio.

The court stated, "The newly reclaimed land at Pyeongtaek-Dangjin Port is connected to the land of Pyeongtaek City, but to connect with Dangjin and Asan Cities, a sea-crossing bridge must be constructed," and ruled, "There is no basis to claim that the reclaimed land falls under Dangjin City's jurisdiction." It further explained, "Given the geographical conditions, it is more efficient for electricity, telecommunications, water supply and sewage, and gas to be supplied from Pyeongtaek City, and public offices and other facilities are also closer to Pyeongtaek City."

Previously, the Constitutional Court did not accept the claims by Chungnam Province and others that the system for determining the local government jurisdiction over reclaimed land, decided by the Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety in 2015, infringed upon the essence of local autonomy. Following this, Chungnam Province, Dangjin City, and Asan City filed a jurisdictional dispute trial with the Constitutional Court in 2015, and subsequently filed a 'cancellation lawsuit of the jurisdictional local government decision' with the Supreme Court seeking to annul the Minister's decision. The Constitutional Court dismissed the jurisdictional dispute trial filed by Dangjin City and others in July last year with a 7 to 2 vote by the justices.

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