Seoul’s plans to remove Deoksu Palace path sparks controversy

The conflict between the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) is escalating as the former hopes to develop areas near cultural heritage sites while the latter aims to protect them.

A pedestrian walks along Deoksugung Stonewall Walkway in central Seoul. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

The conflict between the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) is escalating as the former hopes to develop areas near cultural heritage sites while the latter aims to protect them.

A case in point is the Seoul city government’s recent proposal to remove the Deoksugung Stonewall Path, or the stone wall surrounding Deoksu Palace, in central Seoul.

The metropolitan government proposed to demolish the stone wall to widen the walkway and make Deoksu Palace more accessible to the public.

The stone wall was previously torn down by Park Chung Hee’s military government in 1961 and replaced with a fence.

It was then restored in 1968 after harsh criticism from the public.

Taking down the stone wall will allow the city to create a large park at the center of the city connecting the walkway to nearby places such as Gwanghwamun Plaza, the city government said. Seoul’s city government also claimed the stone wall has little cultural heritage value.

However, the CHA rejected the proposal, saying that although the stone wall has not been restored as it originally was, it still serves its original purpose of protecting the palace.

The Seoul metropolitan government claims that policies related to cultural heritage frequently inconvenience residents.

According to the city government, cultural heritage policies are very closed compared to other countries as the CHA tries to protect and preserve cultural heritage sites in their original condition as much as possible.

“Major palaces in Korea are managed like sanctuaries with events at the place seldom taking place,” the city government said.

“But cultural heritages overseas like Buckingham Palace in London and the Duomo of Milan host different events for people regularly.”

This is not the first time that the city government and the CHA have clashed.

A bird's eye view of the path connecting Changgyeong Palace and Jongmyo Shrine in central Seoul [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]

The project to reconnect the path from Changgyeong Palace to Jongmyo Shrine in July last year was another issue.

Jongmyo Shrine, the oldest royal Confucian shrine, was designated as a Unesco World Cultural Heritage site in 1995.

The two places were disconnected by a road called Yulgok-ro, which was built during the Japanese occupation in 1932. The city government developed the road into a tunnel and built a green bridge for people to easily access cultural heritage sites in the area.

Despite the city government’s effort to make the place more accessible to citizens, the CHA continued to restrict tours at Jongmyo Shine, only allowing unguided tours on weekends and the country’s culture day, or every last Wednesday of the month.

“The restoration project became purposeless as the CHA restricted tours at the site despite the city government making it more accessible by investing 100.8 billion won [$75.6 million],” an official at the city government said.

The restricted tours were to protect the cultural heritage as much as possible, the CHA said.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon looks around the Seun Commercial District in Jung District, central Seoul, on April 21. [NEWS1]

Some places in Seoul have also turned into slums because of restrictions related to cultural heritage.

Seun Sangga, an old shopping and residential district that stretches over a kilometer between the Jongno and Dongdaemun areas, is one example.

Technically, the Seun Commercial District is not a restricted area for development due to cultural heritages nearby. Such areas should be within a distance of 100 meters (328 feet) of cultural heritage. The Seun Commercial District is about 140 to 170 meters away from Jongmyo Shrine.

However, the CHA requested its Cultural Heritage Committee to go through a review of the district’s development plan after legislating standards for the development of sites surrounding national cultural heritage in 2010.

The review took place through 2018, and redevelopment of the place was halted during that time. The maximum heights of buildings nearby were lowered to 11 to 20-story buildings from the initial 32.

According to an official at the CHA, the review process took many years because the committee had to amend plans after realizing the heights on the documents were different from the actual heights.

“The conflict arises because restrictions to protect cultural heritage and systems for urban planning do not match,” said Choi Bong-moon, an architecture urban engineering professor at Mokwon University.

“The Cultural Heritage Committee’s piecemeal restrictions focusing on heights of buildings were always regarded as illogical as standards changed every time.”

The committee had discontinued another project by the city government, which was to create a pine forest at Seoul Plaza located in front of Seoul City Hall in Jung District.

A site in front of Seoul City Hall in central Seoul that will be turned into a pine forest is seen as planned by the Seoul Metropolitan Government [MOON HEE-CHUL]

The project was initially slated for completion by the first half of the year, but construction has not even begun after the CHA found remains of ancient construction. The administration decided to record the place where cultural heritage was found and allowed development.

The construction is to begin in early October, according to an official at the city government.

Experts say strict restrictions to protect cultural heritage will disturb urban development.

But the CHA argues development near cultural heritage should be done considerately as it is difficult to restore heritage once it is damaged.

“If a 200-meter-tall building is constructed in front of Jongmyo Shrine, we will be able to see some 120 meters of the building southward from the shrine,” a member of Cheonggyecheon Anti Gentrification Alliance said.

“Jongmyo Shrine might be delisted from the Unesco World Heritage list like Liverpool in the United Kingdom was if the view from the shrine is ruined.”

The restrictions will also help preserve the city’s identity, some say.

“The city’s identity will vanish if we approve every request from local governments, which are continuously drawing up development plans as of late,” said Lee Jae-min, a research fellow at Daejeon Sejong Research Institute.

“It is essential to preserve resources passed down from the past to boost the pride of the city’s citizens.”

However, such restrictions may lead to other issues, such as turning cities into slums.

“The Cultural Heritage Protection Act stipulates that developers pay for the cost if they find cultural heritage at the site during development,” said Kwon Dae-jung, a real estate professor at Sogang University.

“Bigger problems will occur in the city if they only focus on preserving cultural heritage, eventually causing cities to become slums.”

BY MOON HEE-CHUL,CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]