The Lotte Site at Gyeyangsan Golf Course Canceled... Song Young-gil Pledges "Development into an Arboretum"

Incheon City Withdraws 2012 Gyeyangsan Golf Course Construction Plan
Lotte Files Lawsuit, Loses in 2018 Supreme Court Ruling

Song Young-gil, the Democratic Party candidate for Gyeyang-gu Eul, Incheon (center front), is taking a commemorative photo with supporters after announcing a pledge to develop the Lotte site in Gyeyang Mountain into an arboretum.
[Photo by Song Young-gil's Office]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] There has been a proposal to establish an arboretum in the Incheon Gyeyangsan area, where Lotte Group's plan to develop a golf course was canceled.

On the 5th, Song Young-gil, a member of the Democratic Party running for Incheon Gyeyang-gu B in the April 15 general election, announced a pledge to "develop the 770,000-pyeong Lotte site in Gyeyangsan into a tourist-competitive arboretum like Gwangju Gonjiam Hwadamsup."

On the same day, at the outdoor stage of Gyeyang Fortress Museum, Song said, "Hwadamsup in Gonjiam, Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, is a four-season arboretum created by the LG Sangnok Foundation as part of a public interest project. We are in discussions with Incheon City and Lotte Group to develop and utilize the Lotte-owned land on the back side of Gyeyangsan as an arboretum for the rest and leisure of Gyeyang residents and Incheon citizens."

Song emphasized, "I am very grateful that I canceled the Gyeyangsan golf course plan, which was promoted during former Mayor Ahn Sang-soo's administration, when I became the mayor of Incheon in 2010, thus protecting Gyeyangsan. Gyeyangsan is not a place for leisure use by a certain class but a place like the heart of Incheon that all Incheon citizens should enjoy."

He argued, "Last year, Chairman Shin Kyuk-ho passed away, and the four Lotte siblings will jointly inherit. There is a task to reach an agreement to develop this land as an arboretum by establishing an SPC with equal shares without dividing the land among them and obtaining consent for a single purpose project."

He added, "If the plan to develop the arboretum is realized by persuading the four joint heirs, it will connect the area around Moksang-dong and the Gyeongin Ara Waterway, providing Gyeyang residents with a space for rest and healing, and furthermore, it will become a famous spot visited by citizens of the metropolitan area."

Lotte purchased 2.57 million square meters of land around Gyeyangsan in 1974 under the name of Chairman Shin Kyuk-ho and began promoting the construction of a golf course in 1989.

In 2009, during former Incheon Mayor Ahn Sang-soo's term, an urban management plan to build a golf course as a sports facility in Gyeyangsan was approved, but the plan was withdrawn in 2012 after Song Young-gil took office as mayor of Incheon, citing environmental destruction.

Lotte filed a lawsuit against Incheon City, claiming that "the golf course construction project, which was lawfully decided during former Mayor Ahn's term, was politically discarded after the city government changed, constituting an abuse of discretion," but lost the final ruling by the Supreme Court in October 2018.