Geumcheon-gu and Ministry of National Defense Promote Win-Win Plan for Development of Doksan-dong Air Force Base

Geumcheon-gu Meets with Deputy Minister of Defense to Develop Air Force Base Site... Ministry of Defense Positively Considers Measures for Military-Civilian Coexistence... Mutual Agreement on Improving Aging Military Facilities, Enhancing Service Conditions for Soldiers, and Restoring Urban Functions for Geumcheon-gu's Strategic Role

Yuseong Hoon, Mayor of Geumcheon District (right in the photo), and Park Jae-min, Vice Minister of National Defense, took a commemorative photo after discussing the development of the Air Force base in Doksan-dong on the 3rd.

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Geumcheon-gu (Mayor Yu Seong-hoon) announced on the 3rd that it held a meeting with the Vice Minister of National Defense to discuss the development of the Air Force base site in Doksan-dong.

The Doksan-dong Air Force base covers approximately 125,000㎡ and has been located in the heart of Geumcheon-gu since the 1940s, long disrupting the living area of the Doksan-dong region and acting as a factor hindering local development.

Since 2005, Geumcheon-gu has requested the Ministry of National Defense to relocate the Air Force base. In 2008, when LH Corporation was promoting an urban development project, the relocation of the Air Force base was specifically considered. However, due to reasons such as the global financial crisis and industrial structure improvement, LH Corporation abandoned the project, resulting in the urban development project being canceled in 2012.

Geumcheon-gu requested active cooperation from the Ministry of National Defense for the complete relocation of the Air Force base located in Doksan-dong, Geumcheon-gu, to promote the development project of the military base site aimed at resolving residents' long-standing issues, fostering regional development, and improving the welfare of military personnel.

Geumcheon-gu has been making various efforts for the relocation of the military base by scouting several potential relocation sites for the Doksan-dong Air Force base, submitting a request for consultation on the military base relocation to the Ministry of National Defense, and consulting with the Ministry and relevant local governments.

In 2021, a new candidate site was additionally discovered, and in September of the same year, a request for consultation on the military base relocation was submitted to the Ministry of National Defense.

In response to Geumcheon-gu's request, the Ministry of National Defense stated that relocating military facilities to other areas requires the consent of the relevant local governments, and that consultation between the relevant local governments and Geumcheon-gu must take priority. Accordingly, Geumcheon-gu plans to promptly initiate consultations with the relevant local governments regarding the base relocation. If an agreement on the relocation with the relevant local governments fails, they discussed proceeding with the establishment of an urban-type base within the current site and developing the remaining land.

An urban-type base is a project that compresses and densifies the existing military base and develops the remaining land. It is an alternative where the military and civilians coexist together, which can resolve conflicts between local governments caused by the military base relocation and has the advantage of enabling rapid project implementation. An example of this is the Air Force Aviation Safety Unit site in Daebang-dong, Dongjak-gu, where residential complexes, resident convenience facilities, and military facilities are densely arranged within the existing military facility site.

During this discussion, the two institutions reached an agreement on mutual growth and development between the region and the military, including regional development through the restoration of the disrupted local living area and improvement of welfare and service environment for military personnel through modernization of military facilities. They also promised to form a task force between the two institutions for smooth project implementation when the project is officially launched and to actively cooperate with each other.

Yu Seong-hoon, Mayor of Geumcheon-gu, said, “This meeting has opened a big turning point for the development project of the Doksan-dong Air Force base,” and added, “We will do our best to realize the development project as soon as possible.”

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