“오염 정밀조사부터”…환경단체, ‘용산기지 공공주택 공급’ 철회 촉구

Recently, the government's plan to potentially convert the Ulsan Air Base (300,000 sqm) into public housing has sparked backlash from environmental organizations. The designated target for review is the playground in Ulsan Park (30,000 sqm), and the ruling Democratic Party is backing this proposal by submitting a special law amendment bill to the National Assembly, intensifying the controversy.

On the 19th, Green Alliance released a statement asserting "the Ulsan U.S. military base should undergo precise pollution investigation and purification before becoming a national park, this plan is based on a social consensus after long-standing conflicts and disputes." They demanded that the Lee Myung-bak government immediately withdraw its plan to utilize the U.S. military base as a housing supply site, arguing that it is a "development special privilege" that lowers urban housing standards to boost overall urban housing supply.

The Green Alliance also criticized the bill for lowering urban housing standards to spur overall urban housing supply, and for claiming that the government can proceed with construction while simultaneously purifying the air. They urged for an immediate halt to these irresponsible statements. They emphasized that the Ulsan Air Base, which has been used by the U.S. military, has been polluted with oil spills, and that precise investigations should precede any decision on land use.

The cost of purification should be borne by the party responsible, the U.S. military, according to the polluter-pays principle. The Seoul Green Alliance also released a statement criticizing the government and the ruling party, asserting that the Ulsan Park, which has been synonymous with foreign military bases for a century, should become a green lung for the city and a connection between the urban heat island and ecological rest areas.

They warned that the government and National Assembly should not sacrifice the last large-scale urban green space in Seoul for housing development. They argued that the root cause of Seoul's housing market instability is the concentration of jobs, capital, and population in Seoul and the surrounding region, and that continuing to develop Ulsan Park and green belts will only further concentrate development in the city center and hasten the decline of the suburbs.

They demanded that the government and National Assembly revoke the plan to supply housing on Ulsan Park land, halt the review of the Ulsan Park Special Law amendment bill, abolish the provisions that weaken the park and green belt standards, and transform the entire Ulsan Park site into a fully protected national park.