SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) —On the eve of Children’s Day, the Yongsan Children’s Garden, built on the site of the former Yongsan U.S. military base, opened its gates to the public for the first time in over 120 years. However, despite the excitement surrounding the opening, opposition parties and environmental groups have raised serious [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — The United States on Friday returned multiple parcels of its military’s Yongsan Garrison in central Seoul and two other bases north of the capital to South Korea, the defense ministry here said, a move bound to accelerate regional development projects. The decision, including the return of 165,000 square meters [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — Sports facilities such as soccer, baseball and softball fields within the Yongsan Garrison site returned by the U.S. Army will be opened to the public. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on Wednesday that it will complete the renovation of the site by March next year to [...]
SEOUL, July 21 (Korea Bizwire) — A joint panel of government and civilian experts on Tuesday endorsed a revised plan for a national park in Seoul to be built on land previously occupied by the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), further expanding what would be South Korea’s largest urban park. In its second meeting, the state-civilian [...]
SEOUL, May 18 (Korea Bizwire) — The portion of a fence dividing the commissioned officers’ quarters at the Yongsan base of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) and the outside world has been taken down to begin the first phase of opening up the old military apartment complex to the public. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — When TV personality Hong Suk-chun opened a Thai restaurant in Itaewon 14 years ago, the best-known foreigners’ district in South Korea was always bustling with American soldiers and foreign tourists, as well as local visitors sampling the exotic ambience of the neighborhood. Hong has since seen the district lose [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea decided Monday to expand the boundary of an envisioned national park in Yongsan, central Seoul, as the U.S. forces stationed here have kicked off the return process for a major military base. South Korea is pushing to establish a sprawling park in Yongsan as the United States [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — The U.S. Forces Korea will end all services at a major military base in the heart of Seoul within this year to prepare the return of the land to the South Korean government, military officials said Saturday. The U.S. military has been moving its bases from around the country [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — Benzene, at levels 1,170 times the government-set safety limit, has been detected among other toxic chemicals in groundwater near Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, the former site of the headquarters of the U.S. Forces (USFK) in Korea, Seoul metropolitan government said Friday. The government said the levels of toxins above [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Jeon Hong-seop, 68, still remembers an old story that his grandmother told him when he was young about his family’s desperate escape from their hometown in Asan, South Chungcheong Province. It was in the midst of the January Fourth Retreat during the blisteringly cold winter of 1951, some six [...]