hankyoreh

An aerial view of Yongsan Garrison in Seoul

There are approximately about 2.8 square kilometers of land in Yongsan-gu, Seoul without an address, only a past.

During the Goryeo Dynasty in the 13th century it was the supply base of the invading Mongolian army. At the end of the 16th century it served as a post for the Japanese army, in the 1880s as the barracks for Chinese forces, and from the early 1900s as a base for Imperial Japan. In 1945, this land was the only land that was not liberated from Japanese rule. After accepting the surrender of the Japanese Government General of Korea, the 24th Corps of the US Army took the place of the Japanese, and during the 1950-53 Korean War the North Korean army installed a command post on the land. It was in 1953, when the 8th US Army moved its headquarters from Seoul National University (Dongsung-dong) to the land, that Yongsan became the land of the US Army in earnest. Yongsan is a lost land, where for more than a century one needed the permission of foreign armies to enter.

The plan to have the military base on Yongsan returned to the South Korean government and rehabilitated as a land for “everyone,” as national park number one, is comparable to proposing that a land that has been dead for over a century be rehabilitated. “There is no other case, in any other country, of a foreign army’s having barracks within the capital city and being stationed there. Even in the case of Germany, which caused and was completely defeated in World War II, the Allied forces were never stationed in Berlin,” (From “The Value of Yongsan Park as a World Heritage Site”, Cho Gwang, President of the National Institute of Korean History, professor emeritus at Korea University) and in much the same way, the above is akin to a promise that the land will not be subordinate to anyone else any longer.

Yongsan Garrison public park conversion plan

However, the Yongsan park project has diverged considerably from its original course. The plan for a park followed the delay of the plan to relocate Yongsan Garrison. The Park Geun-hye administration’s (2013-16) decision for the “South Korea-US Combined Forces Command to remain in Yongsan” undermined the park plan itself in late 2014. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport had to make broad modifications to the basic plan that had originally been laid out in 2011, and for more than two years had been unable to draw the basic design plan. Not only is the scale of the remaining South Korea-US Combined Forces headquarters uncertain, because of the delay in the restoration of the land itself, the survey of the site was not carried out.

In addition, because the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command cannot stay behind as simply one facility, its continued place in the land is likely to become a major issue. A source from United States Forces Korea told the Hankyoreh, “For the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command to remain, they need more than an office. There will need to be lodging and recreational facilities for the military personnel.” While a brigade-sized hospital may be moved to the base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, there‘s a strong possibility that a battalion or company-sized hospital will remain. The above is the first definitive stance of the United States Forces Korea as covered by the South Korean media regarding the scale of the remaining South Korea-US Combined Forces.

The Ministry of National Defense has maintained that “The South Korea-US Combined Forces Command will not even take up one tenth of the overall land [of the Yongsan base].” But even this means that, even considering the land within the Main Post (the upper half of the base), approximately 30% (assuming an estimated 240,000 square meters for the total size) will become a restricted area because of the remaining Combined Forces Command. More than anything else, the Main Post has received attention for its cluster of historically significant buildings from the Japanese colonial period.

And it’s uncertain when the 174,000 square meters of lodgings for the employees of the US embassy in the South Post (the lower half of the base) will be dismantled. This is because the previous administration further agreed that the current lodgings would remain in place until the completion of new lodgings. According to a government source, “These are large-scale lodgings, taking up approximately 10% of the South Post,” and “a major obstacle (from the perspective of those responsible for the park plan)”.

The facilities to remain had already been in existence in 2004, since the Yongsan Relocation Program (YRP). To leave a liaison unit for the US and South Korean forces, the Dragon Hill Hotel site and heliport, as well as the entrance, exit and security facilities, were all excluded from the return plan. Unlike the two former sites, fixed in size, the entrance and exit facilities were tentatively put at 74,000 square meters by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport but any updates only amount to “it seems the size is increasing.” Even with these approximate numbers, when excluding the sites that will remain from the return plan, more than one fourth of the land will be gone, and the park will be split into north and south by the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command.

The restored Yongsan Garrison was slated to be unveiled to the public in 2017. The Combined Forces Command was to be at the center. The initial plan from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport was to temporarily open five facilities, including the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command building-built in the 1970s and categorized for its historical significance as a building to be “partially preserved”-along with the facilities that were returned first. The idea was to open the buildings as they were to the public and explore the future of the building together. But because the Park Geun-hye Administration changed direction, the building will not be returned until after 2025 and added to the park later, like an appendix.

Both the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport maintain the position that “there have been no setbacks in the many phases of the park plan.” After visiting the Yongsan Garrison for the first time as mayor in February 2016 after multiple requests, Park Won-soon came back with the observation that “the site that will be left to the army continues to increase as the park becomes halved.”

By Im In-tack, staff reporter

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