Naju-si Holds the 2nd Meeting of the Geumseongsan Committee

[Naju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yuk-bong] Naju City, Jeollanam-do (Mayor Kang In-gyu) held the 2nd meeting of the “Geumseongsan Committee,” a public-private joint committee, on the 25th to promote the leading policy task of “Creating Geumseongsan Citizen’s Park,” including the designation of Geumseongsan Provincial Park and the relocation of military units and facilities.

According to Naju City, at the 2nd meeting, mid- to long-term pending issues were intensively discussed, including the designation of Geumseongsan as a provincial park and the resulting Global Slow City certification, the relocation of military units linked to the relocation of Gwangju Military Airport, complete removal of buried landmines, and the cancellation of the designation of Sanpo emergency runway.

The meeting was attended by all committee members, including Mayor Kang In-gyu, the standing chairman of the public-private joint committee; Professor Emeritus Chae Jeong-gi of the Department of Forest Resources at Chonnam National University, co-chairman; Seo Jae-cheol, full-time expert committee member of Green Union; Kwon Yong-seok, director of the Korea Tree Evaluation Institute; and Kim Young-seon, deputy director of Hanbaek Ecology Research Institute.

The core of the Geumseongsan Citizen’s Park creation task is to systematically discover and organize tangible and intangible resources such as ecology, history, and culture of Geumseongsan to fully develop Geumseongsan as a “citizen’s park” for the people.

The committee comprehensively reviewed the progress of the feasibility study for the designation of Geumseongsan Provincial Park, as well as anticipated problems and countermeasures for each pending issue.

The feasibility study focused on classifying the natural scenery and historical-cultural resources of Geumseongsan into broad categories such as “Natural Conservation Zone,” “Natural Environment Zone,” “Park Village Zone,” and “Park Heritage Zone,” and analyzing development conditions.

As the first step in efforts to designate the provincial park, the city has been conducting a landmine removal operation on the summit of Geumseongsan in cooperation with the Army Engineer Unit since April last year.

Removing landmines buried on the mountain summit is classified as a difficult operation requiring safety due to the mountainous terrain’s ruggedness and the high possibility of mines being lost or buried by natural factors such as fires, heavy rain, sand, and soil.

The Army Engineer Unit involved in the Geumseongsan operation has successfully removed a total of eight landmines so far and has completed exploration of 81% of the entire operation area.

The city plans to start a basic research project for the relocation of the Geumseongsan military unit in the first half of this year and will work to expand community consensus by seeking cooperation with civilian organizations and conducting signature campaigns for the military unit’s relocation.

Mayor Kang In-gyu said, “Thanks to the committee’s generous interest and support, the outline of creating Geumseongsan Citizen’s Park seems to be gradually taking shape,” adding, “We will establish a provincial park plan that discovers and connects humanities, culture, and historical resources suited to the local characteristics centered on Geumseongsan’s natural scenic resources.”

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