Wonju City, Final Victory in Land Appraisal Timing for Camp Long

Confirmed as "Grant Cancellation Reversion Date" Claimed by Wonju City
Expected to Save at Least 20 Billion KRW in Compensation Costs

The final victory of Wonju City in the lawsuit between Wonju City and the Ministry of National Defense over the ownership transfer registration of the Camp Long site located in Wonju City, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, has accelerated the development of the Camp Long site.

The site of Camp Long in Wonju City. Photo by Wonju City Hall

According to Wonju City (Mayor Won Kang-su) on the 15th, the Civil Division 3 of the Supreme Court (Presiding Justice Lee Suk-yeon) dismissed the Ministry of National Defense's appeal against Wonju City regarding the ownership transfer registration lawsuit of Camp Long without oral argument on the 9th, thereby finalizing the first-instance court's ruling.

Wonju City expects to save at least 20 billion KRW in additional purchase costs compared to the compensation amount if it had lost to the Ministry of National Defense due to this ruling.

Wonju City and the Ministry of National Defense signed an "Agreement for the Management and Disposal of National Property" related to the Camp Long site in June 2013. However, they did not set a reference date for the appraisal of the land sale price. This lawsuit arose from the differing claims of both parties regarding when the appraisal reference date should be.

Wonju City paid the land price (66.5 billion KRW) by 2016 after the agreement, and subsequently paid an additional total of 79 billion KRW, including the land price increase (12.5 billion KRW) as of June 30, 2019.

In the first-instance lawsuit filed by Wonju City against the Ministry of National Defense, Wonju City argued that the appraisal reference date for the Camp Long land sale price should be based on June 2013, the date of the agreement, or at least on December 11, 2019, the "reversion date of the grant cancellation." The reversion of the grant cancellation means returning the land granted to the U.S. military back to the Korean government.

The Ministry of National Defense claimed December 2022, when administrative procedures such as soil contamination cleanup were completed, as the appraisal reference date.

The first-instance ruling on November 24, 2023, sided with Wonju City, stating that the appraisal should be based on December 2019, the reversion date of the grant cancellation.

This Supreme Court ruling confirmed the appraisal reference date as December 2019, the reversion date of the grant cancellation, in accordance with the first-instance ruling.

Kwon Hyuk-il, Director of Urban Regeneration Division of Wonju City, said, "With the final victory in the lawsuit against the Ministry of National Defense, we have put an end to the appraisal reference date for ownership transfer at the reversion date of the grant cancellation," adding, "We will promptly conduct a land appraisal of the Camp Long site in the near future and expedite its return to the citizens of Wonju."