The U.S. military base in Bupyeong, Incheon, turned into a park by 2028.
After public debate, 1.6 million square meters of construction began.
The Incheon Metropolitan Government announced on the 9th that it will create a camp market site for the USFK, which covers an area of 605,000 square meters in Sangok-dong, Bupyeong-gu, as a park by 2028.
The camp market was used as an army guardhouse in Japan for weapons manufacturing during the Japanese colonial era period in 1939, and has been operated as ASCOM, the military support command of the USFK since liberation. According to the Korea-U.S. agreement in December 2019, Incheon City first returned 210,000㎡ of the camp market in areas A and B, and the remaining 230,000㎡ of land in area D will be returned between March and April next year after complete closure and relocation of the baking plant.
The city plans to establish a detailed plan in accordance with the principle of creating a cultural park in the city center by 2028 on a site of 1,605,000㎡ in 292 Sangok-dong, Bupyeong-gu, including 440,000㎡ in the return area and 165,000㎡ in the surrounding area. To this end, the government plans to focus on two policies: a public debate project that actively reflects citizens' opinions on the direction of park construction and an archive project that records 80 years of history of the camp market.
The public debate project is an essential process to decide whether to remove buildings at the camp market, which opened as a military base in 1939 and was used as a U.S. military base after liberation. Residents near the base argue that the remnants of the Japanese colonial rule should be demolished and regional development should be accelerated, but civic groups emphasize the need for preservation, saying they need to remember the painful history.
In order to resolve the conflict over the demolition of buildings, the city plans to hold the 4th Camp Market Finding Citizens' Thoughts event next month and then organize the opinions of citizens that have been accumulated. In addition, next year, a camp market citizen participation group will be formed and a civic survey will be conducted to prepare citizen recommendations on the direction of the camp market history and culture park.
An official from Incheon City said, "We are actively reflecting citizens' opinions on the direction of park construction after the complete return of the camp market next year, and we are based on two policies to preserve the 80-year history of the camp market from military units to park construction."
Jang Hyunil