Camping site not operated, only soil and sand excavated... Yangsan City extends 'Auto Camping Permit' to company that only transported earth materials

Responsible Department "Illegal Development Restored, Extension Permit Granted"

Soil removal work is being carried out at a site in Wondong-myeon, Yangsan-si, which was approved for camping site use about two years ago. [Image source=Provided by reader]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Du-yeol] Rumors are piling up over a site that has been left unattended for more than two years, where only soil removal activities took place without the establishment of the authorized auto camping site.

Controversy is growing as Yangsan City extended the development activity permit by one more year to the company that only carried out sand removal work after receiving permission to establish an auto camping site.

According to Yangsan City and residents of Wondong-myeon on the 18th, in early May 2020, Yangsan City granted a company permission to establish a camping site on approximately 40,000㎡ of vacant land near Danggokcheon in Yongdang-ri, Wondong-myeon, Yangsan. The site is adjacent to the Nakdong River, where dredged sand about 4 to 5 meters high had accumulated due to the Four Major Rivers Project.

The company submitted a construction start report to Yangsan City in early September 2020 and began construction, but only proceeded with sand removal unrelated to the establishment of the camping site.

Nearby residents suffered from dust and noise caused by the construction. One resident said that sand was removed outside about 40 to 50 times daily using 24-ton dump trucks.

Residents suffering from the distress filed complaints with Yangsan City, which issued an order to “stop soil removal and entry” around mid-September 2020. However, the company did not comply with the order and submitted a “soil removal and entry and inspection plan” in mid-December of the same year.

The Yangsan City department in charge received the company’s plan and, two months later in mid-February 2021, obtained the mayor’s approval to send a “request for investigation cooperation” to the Yangsan Police Station, and officially filed a complaint in mid-May 2021, about three months later.

The company was prosecuted for unauthorized landform alteration due to the city’s complaint and was sentenced to a fine. About nine months after the illegal activity was detected, in early June 2021, the company submitted a construction suspension and restoration plan.

At that time, Yangsan City estimated the amount of soil removed to be 81,413㎥, which converts to about 120,000 tons in weight. It is known that the value per dump truck at that time amounted to about 2 billion KRW.

Yangsan City completed a restoration plan to re-import 42,757㎥, half of the removed soil, in January and accepted the company’s application submitted in June for a one-year extension of the development activity permit.

A Yangsan City official said, “We determined the amount of soil to be re-imported based on the ‘approved planned elevation’ of the camping site land, and the economic value of the soil was never a consideration from the beginning,” adding, “If the company continues not to proceed with construction, we are considering canceling the permit after a hearing process.”

Auto camping site construction site. [Image source=Provided by reader]

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