Changwon Special City Accelerates Normalization of Changwon Cultural Complex Town

Initiating Recruitment of New Operators, Aiming to Open Next Year

Ensuring Expertise and Objectivity through Committee Management

The long-standing conflict surrounding Changwon Cultural Complex Town has been temporarily resolved through court mediation, accelerating the normalization of the project.

On the morning of the 2nd, Changwon Special City in Gyeongnam held a press conference in the city hall briefing room to announce the court's conciliation recommendation decision and the normalization plan for the 'Changwon Cultural Complex Town Development Project.'

Changwon Cultural Complex Town was originally a private investment project aimed at creating a local Hallyu experience space, which started in 2016 and was scheduled to be completed by April 2020.

Changwon Special City Hall, Gyeongnam.
Photo by Se-ryeong Lee

However, in March 2022, Changwon City notified the project implementer of the termination of the implementation agreement, holding them responsible for the delay in the development of Changwon Cultural Complex Town. The project implementer, disagreeing with this, filed a provisional injunction to suspend the effect of the termination of the implementation agreement with the court.

In response, the court approved the project implementer's provisional injunction on July 6 of last year, and the city's objection to this approval was dismissed on October 25 of the same year.

Afterward, the newly inaugurated 8th term Changwon City government judged that ▲ the possibility of winning the main lawsuit was uncertain due to consecutive unfavorable court decisions, ▲ additional cost burdens were expected due to claims for tens of billions of won in damages if lost, and ▲ prolonged legal battles would only delay the normalization of the project. Therefore, they reached a prior agreement with the project implementer and applied for court mediation.

Recently, the court reached an agreement between both parties, recommending conciliation that ▲ the project implementer transfers ownership of the Changwon Cultural Complex Town buildings and land to Changwon City, ▲ Changwon City returns the agreement performance deposit to the project implementer, and ▲ the implementation agreement for the Changwon Cultural Complex Town development project is mutually terminated, concluding all disputes.

Going forward, Changwon City announced plans to complete the selection of an operator within this year and to begin normal operations from early next year, ensuring citizens' opportunities to enjoy culture.

To this end, Changwon City plans to activate the ‘Consignment Institution Selection Committee’ based on related ordinances to select a new operator through a professional and fair process. This committee will consist of about nine members and will be responsible for ▲ developing the public recruitment guidelines and ▲ overall management of the selection evaluation.

Additionally, to strengthen the expertise of the Consignment Institution Selection Committee, Changwon City plans to establish and operate a ‘Selection Evaluation Subcommittee’ under the committee. About 15 experts will participate in this subcommittee, taking charge of evaluating the selection of the operating entity. Furthermore, since the public recruitment guidelines are a specialized area, they will be developed by outsourcing to an external service company, with the final decision made by the committee.

Na Jae-yong, Director of the Economic and Job Creation Bureau, said, “We will do our best to select a new operator through swift and meticulous planning and transparent procedures to ensure that delays like those in the past never happen again, and to return the Cultural Complex Town to the citizens as soon as possible.”

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