Changwon Special City "Regrets Gyeongnam Province's Robot Land Ruling Briefing"

Robot Land Pension Site Lot 1

Delay in Relocation Responsibility, Contrary to Facts

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Song Jong-gu] Changwon Special City in Gyeongnam expressed regret over the briefing on the “Audit Results Conducted After the Appeal Trial Verdict on the Claim for Payment upon Termination of Robot Land” announced by Gyeongsangnam-do on the 12th.

So far, the Robot Land development project is designated by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy as the project designator under the “Act on the Development and Promotion of Intelligent Robots,” and Gyeongsangnam-do is the project implementer targeting the areas of Gubok-ri and Bandong-ri in Gusan-myeon, Masanhappo-gu. Changwon Special City is a joint project participant, and the foundation has been entrusted by Gyeongsangnam-do to carry out the development project work.

Changwon Special City Hall, Gyeongnam.
Photo by Lee Seryeong

On this day, the Gyeongnam Provincial Audit Committee announced the results of the audit conducted since October last year regarding the Robot Land development project, pointing out that “Changwon City hesitated to fulfill its obligation to contribute the Robot Land development site. The delay in processing the contribution work for one pension site became a decisive reason for the termination of the implementation agreement.”

In response, Changwon Special City stated, “The pension development site is a shared property of Changwon City. If Gyeongsangnam-do, as the project implementer, had directly carried out the project, Changwon City could have directly contributed to Gyeongsangnam-do. However, there were legal limitations in directly contributing to the Robot Land Foundation (hereinafter ‘the Foundation’), which was entrusted with the work instead of Gyeongsangnam-do. To resolve this, Gyeongsangnam-do, Changwon City, and the Foundation held several meetings in 2017, and based on the results, the Foundation transferred the development site from Changwon City through a lawsuit for ownership transfer. During this process, the Foundation omitted one pension site in question, and the problem arose because the transfer was made only after a considerable amount of time had passed.”

An official from the city said, “We plan to raise objections according to the relevant procedures as soon as we receive the audit results notification from Gyeongsangnam-do.”