"Apartment Blocking Royal Tombs Must Be Demolished"… 100,000 Agree to Blue House Petition

"Demolition Urged for Apartments Built Without Cultural Heritage Administration Approval... We Must Protect Our Culture"

Photo by Cheongwadae National Petition Board screen capture.

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] A petition has been posted requesting the demolition of apartments being constructed near the UNESCO World Heritage site 'Joseon Royal Tombs' without permission from the Cultural Heritage Administration.

On the 17th, a petition titled "Urging the demolition of apartments built near Gimpo Jangneung without permission from the Cultural Heritage Administration" was posted on the Blue House National Petition Board. The number of signatories exceeded 100,000 on the 22nd, and as of 7 a.m. on the 23rd, it had received the consent of approximately 109,530 people.

The petitioner began by saying, "We urge the demolition of apartments built without permission from the Cultural Heritage Administration that damage the landscape of Gimpo Jangneung, a World Cultural Heritage site." Gimpo Jangneung is the tomb of Wonjong, the fifth son of King Seonjo of Joseon and father of King Injo, and his wife Queen Inheon. It is one of the 40 Joseon royal tombs registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2009.

He pointed out, "Gimpo Jangneung is characterized by landscaping that connects Paju Jangneung and Gyeyangsan, but this apartment is located between Gimpo Jangneung and Gyeyangsan, disrupting the landscaping."

He continued, "(The apartment) not only damages the value of Gimpo Jangneung as a World Cultural Heritage site but was also illegally constructed without review, so it should be demolished. If the apartment remains and no responsibility is taken, it will set a bad precedent, causing similar incidents to continue."

He added, "There is a 15-story apartment completed in 2002 located 200 meters closer to Gimpo Jangneung, which was built with permission from the Cultural Heritage Administration and positioned to minimize obstruction of the royal tomb. Despite this good precedent, leaving a bad precedent is absolutely undesirable."

Furthermore, he said, "Since the apartments have already been sold and demolition would cause significant damage to the buyers, I also feel heavy-hearted writing this petition. Finding a way to preserve the cultural heritage landscape while minimizing demolition would be the best approach."

In conclusion, the petitioner stated, "If such damage to our world-recognized cultural heritage continues due to the complacent attitudes of construction companies and local governments, it is questionable whether our culture can continue to influence the world. We must protect our culture ourselves." He ended by expressing hope that "this incident will serve as an opportunity to raise overall social awareness about cultural heritage protection."

Earlier, on the 6th, the Cultural Heritage Administration filed charges against three construction companies building apartments in Geomdan New Town, Seo-gu, Incheon, near Gimpo Jangneung, for violating the Cultural Heritage Protection Act. They are accused of constructing apartments in a historical and cultural environment preservation area within a 500-meter radius of the cultural heritage site without prior review.

However, the construction companies claim that when they acquired the land in 2014, Incheon Urban Corporation, the previous owner, had obtained permission from Gimpo City for cultural heritage alteration for land development, so they believed there was no problem.

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