This file photo shows part of the site for an envisioned public park near the presidential office in Seoul’s Yongsan district. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 3 (Korea Bizwire) — The United States returned parcels of its military’s Yongsan Garrison in central Seoul to South Korea, officials said Friday, allowing Seoul to speed up its plan to build a public park near the presidential office.
The return of 51,000 square meters of land inside the garrison included its southern and southwestern gates, as well as thoroughfares to the gates, the Office for Government Policy Coordination said in a statement.
The handover is expected to help South Korea accelerate its plan to build the park as the gates are close to the presidential office, which had been used by the defense ministry before Yoon’s office was relocated from Cheong Wa Dae.
In particular, the garrison’s southern gate has been used on the route that President Yoon Suk-yeol makes during his commute to work in order to minimize inconvenience to citizens.
Yoon has been commuting every day from his private home in southern Seoul, while the foreign minister’s official residence in Yongsan is converted into the new presidential residence.
Since Yoon was inaugurated last month, the garrison’s southern gate has been under the control of South Korea’s presidential security service.
So far, the U.S. has returned about 30 percent of the land in the garrison to South Korea, according to the statement.
(Yonhap)
