Cultural Heritage Committee Subcommittee Chairpersons Urge Cheongju City to Halt Office Building Demolition

"Demolition Policy Established Unilaterally Without Expert Discussion"
"Cultural Heritage Administration Must Devise Stronger Cultural Property Protection Measures"

The current Cheongju City Hall building, which will serve as the unified Cheongju City Hall starting July 1, 2014.

The Cultural Heritage Committee recently urged the suspension of procedures related to the demolition decision of the old main building of Cheongju City Hall. They expressed deep concern about the awareness of cultural heritage and demanded the implementation of public discussion involving cultural heritage experts.

The chairpersons of each subcommittee of the Cultural Heritage Committee, which deliberates and resolves cultural heritage policies, issued a statement on the 3rd, saying, "We must preserve the value of cultural heritage and establish reasonable preservation measures." The Cultural Heritage Committee is a non-standing advisory body of the Cultural Heritage Administration. It investigates, reviews, and deliberates on agendas such as designation and cancellation of national cultural heritage, registration and deregistration of registered cultural heritage, changes to cultural heritage appearance, and protection of historical and cultural environments. The subcommittee chairpersons include nine members, including Jeon Young-woo, chairman of the Cultural Heritage Committee and chairman of the Natural Monuments Subcommittee.

They explained, "Cheongju City Hall was classified as a candidate for cultural heritage registration through the Cultural Heritage Administration’s listing and Japanese colonial period survey," adding, "In May 2015, the Cultural Heritage Administration requested cooperation for cultural heritage registration investigation, and in November 2017, recommended preservation measures including the implementation of cultural heritage registration procedures." Cheongju City decided to preserve the main building the following year. In July 2020, an international design competition was decided for the construction of a new city hall. However, the direction changed recently as the new city hall construction project was completely revised. Due to reasons such as insufficient safety ratings, excessive maintenance costs, and additional construction expenses, the main building, which was supposed to be preserved, was decided to be demolished.

The subcommittee chairpersons stated, "We had hoped for voluntary cultural heritage preservation, but a unilateral demolition policy was established without proper discussion by experts," and "We demand the implementation of public discussion involving experts." They further recommended to the Cultural Heritage Administration, "If it is finally confirmed that local governments have no autonomous will to preserve, stronger cultural heritage protection measures must be devised."