Pyeongtaek City Benchmarks Busan Citizens' Park for Repatriated U.S. Military Base Site Utilization Plan
[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Pyeongtaek City announced on the 5th that it has undertaken a benchmarking visit to Busan Citizens' Park to establish a ‘utilization plan for repatriated U.S. military base areas (CPX training ground, rifle shooting range)’.
The Busan visit included Mayor Jung Jang-seon of Pyeongtaek City, nine related officials, local residents' representatives, and representatives from the Alpha Ammunition Depot Research Association, who toured the history hall and Hayariya Plaza within the park.
In particular, they listened to explanations from Jang Seung-bok, director of the Construction Division at Geumjeong-gu Office in Busan City, who participated in the creation of Busan Citizens' Park, identified the strengths and weaknesses of the repatriation of base areas and park development processes, and exchanged opinions on methods that could be referenced in establishing utilization plans for the base areas to be applied to Pyeongtaek City.
Busan Citizens' Park was originally a Japanese horse racing track during Japanese colonial rule, served as a United Nations Command headquarters immediately after liberation, and was used as the U.S. Forces Korea Busan Command (Camp Hayariya) after the Korean War. Under the LPP plan concluded in 2002, ownership was transferred to Busan City in 2010. Through environmental pollution remediation projects and soil contamination cleanup initiatives, the park opened on May 1, 2014, as Busan Citizens' Park (featuring a history museum, performance hall, and lawn plaza) and is a representative civic park in Busan.
Mayor Jung Jang-seon said, “Through this site visit, we had a valuable opportunity to explore and seek various possibilities, including the establishment of a history hall to promote Korea-U.S. friendship in the base area and an ecological park utilizing the old pine grove cluster,” and added, “Pyeongtaek City will make its utmost efforts for the utilization of the base areas.”