No, this entry is not dedicated to anyone named “Park” but rather to those who were alarmed by the idea of developing the Yongsan area, i.e., underground mall, etc. The National Assembly has voted to turn control of this area back to Seoul City for use as a national park. This comes with some idea of using 18 hectares of the total 267 hectares
as commercial development. The money from this development would be used to pay for the relocation costs for the U.S. military.
Contemplating my local gu office’s decision to chop down trees in a playground that were over forty years-old, leaving a scene that looks more like Gaza strip, I am still skeptical on Seoul City’s ability to do a complete job of it, but so far, they seem like they are heading in the right direction.
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So why are they logging on Namsan?
You are right to be skeptical. There is no guarantee the City itself won’t decide to commercialize significant portions of South and or Main Post for $ of its own; the National govt apparently is doing that with the non-contiguous bits consisting of Camp Kim and the old UN compounf behind the Capitol Hotel. Moreover, if you read the news carefully, you’ll see that the Ministry of Construction still hasn’t given up its right to approve any land-use designation, which means - the least - that this isn’t the last we’ll hear of this; there’s a lot more bureaucratic infighting yet to come.