People walk down a slope at Namsan Park on Mount Nam in central Seoul, Oct. 7. Mount Nam is one of 76 public park areas in Seoul that could become less accessible to the public once a new law on land ownership kicks in next year. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



76 public parks in Seoul are nearing their expiration date



By Lee Suh-yoon



Like many Seoul citizens, Choi Young, 21, enjoys hiking in the city. His twice-a-month trek up Mount Inwang ― just next to his home in northwestern Seoul ― is refreshing for both his lungs and mind. Weaving through the canopied trail feels like a meditation exercise, helping him find much-needed respite from the concrete jungle below.



But starting next July, public use of such nature trails or parklands could "expire."



The problem dates back to 1999, when the Constitutional Court ruled in favor of a landowner in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. The owner had a plot of land on which the local government decided to build a school. Once it was reserved for an urban planning facility, the owner could not sell it off or develop the land for a private project. The school never materialized and the owner filed and won a constitutional suit based on property ownership rights.



Following the court ruling, lawmakers revised the Urban Planning Law to allow these public facility designations to be lifted ― starting July 2020 ― from sites where projects are not realized within 20 years.



According to Choi, an activist at the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement (KFEM), the legislative response to the court ruling was "exaggerated," as the change was applied to all urban planning facilities ― including public parklands and nature reserves.



Most public parks and nature reserves don't require special landscaping, containing self-regenerative flora and well-trodden paths. But under a new legal provision, such parks will be considered "unfinished" urban planning facilities if the local government hasn't fully acquired all the land on site from private landowners or the central government.



This poses a problem for some 19,000 parks and nature trails around the country. If the public park designation is lifted from privately owned sections of parks next year, the green enclaves could be breached by real estate forces, and landowners will attain legal grounds to block visitors. In Seoul alone, public access could be restricted to 117 square kilometers of green space ― 85 percent of the city's total park space ― in 76 parks. This includes popular hiking trails on Inwang, Nam, Gwanak and Bukhan mountains.





A hiker looks at banners put up by landowners at Guryong Park in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, Oct. 10. The banners claim the trails are closed due to the city government's failure to respect the landowners' property rights as a deadline approaches for the lifting of its public park designation. Yonhap