Japanese Embassy in Junghak-dong, Seoul



By Kang Hyun-kyung

The Japanese Embassy is having a difficulty in leasing temporary space to move into while a new building is being constructed on the site of the current one.

Sources and Yonhap News say that landlords are reluctant to have the embassy as a tenant for fear of the protests it attracts.

Protests are held outside the embassy, located in Junghak-dong, downtown Seoul, by former sex slaves and their supporters every Wednesday, among many others it draws due to frosty bilateral relations.

"Landlords are concerned about the image of their building and may not want to sign a contract with a tenant like the embassy because protestors gather whenever certain issues arise," said a realtor in the area.

Quoting a person familiar with the relocation plan, Yonhap News Agency reported that the embassy unsuccessfully sought to lease two floors of a building in the Gwanghwamun area a couple of months ago.

"Negotiations broke down as the landlord worried that frequent protests and news conferences outside the building would cause inconvenience for the other tenants," the person was quoted as saying.

The Japanese Embassy has long been a venue for protests because of Korea's bitter relations with the neighboring country. Activists and survivors of wartime sex slavery have staged protests there since 1992.

Demonstrations often take place when rightist Japanese politicians make provocative remarks on wartime sex slaves, history or territorial issues.

The embassy plans to construct a six-story building with three underground floors after knocking down the current one, built 37 years ago.

The embassy needs to get approval from the district office, as well as the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA), over the new building project because the neighborhood was designated a protected area as it is near Gyeongbok Palace.

All buildings in the neighborhood were subject to regulations restricting their height to a maximum of 30 meters until last year. Because of this, the CHA rejected the embassy's plan to construct a new 35.8-meter tall building last year.

The cultural authorities eased the height regulations to 32 meters this year.

"We've not approved the construction of the new Japanese Embassy building yet," an official from Jongno District Office told The Korea Times.

Earlier this year, the official said, the embassy contacted the district office to check on the change in regulations.

"Like last year, this year's contact was not an official request, either. I assume that the embassy staff will officially contact us regarding a concrete proposal sometime later this week as the embassy has to get approval from its foreign ministry regarding the plan," the official said. "We will hold a meeting to review their application once they make an official request. Basically, we plan to follow the regulations set by the CHA."