Final Inclusion of Budget for New District Court in Legal Town
Project Accelerated... Advancement by Over Four Years
Dramatic Improvement in Judicial Convenience Expected for Northern Gyeonggi Residents
The long-awaited project of establishing a "Seoul High Court Branch" in northern Gyeonggi Province has received a green light. With the securing of national funding for the construction of a new district court within the Uijeongbu Legal Town, the previously stalled project is expected to gain momentum.
Gyeonggi Province announced on the 22nd that a design budget of 1.9 billion won for the new district court in Uijeongbu Legal Town was finally included through the Cabinet meeting held on the 9th.
This allocation of government funds is expected to be a decisive turning point, advancing the establishment of the legal town by more than four years. The judiciary plans to begin full-scale design for the new court in the second half of next year.
Residents of northern Gyeonggi Province have long suffered the inconvenience of having to travel three to four hours round-trip to Seocho District in Seoul to attend high court trials. In order to resolve this, the province has made attracting a Seoul High Court branch a key policy task and has worked for many years, but has faced difficulties due to issues regarding the suitability of candidate sites and infrastructure.
The situation began to change on August 6, when a consensus was formed on the direction of establishing a branch court through the early development of Uijeongbu Legal Town at a meeting of relevant agencies hosted by Gyeonggi Province. This momentum was further strengthened with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on November 18 between Gyeonggi Province, the Court Administration Office, the Ministry of Justice, and Uijeongbu City. In particular, active support at the National Assembly level, including from Assemblyman Lee Jaekang, contributed to securing the budget for 2026, resulting in the successful allocation of funds.
The public housing district for Uijeongbu Legal Town, where site development began on the 10th, will be established in the Gosan-dong area of Uijeongbu City, covering 514,513.6 square meters, accommodating 10,227 people across 4,334 households. With major legal facilities concentrated here, judicial accessibility for residents of northern Gyeonggi Province is expected to be maximized, and it is also anticipated to greatly contribute to balanced regional development.
Kim Sangsoo, Director of the Balanced Development Planning Office of Gyeonggi Province, stated, "This is a valuable achievement gained through the united cooperation of the National Assembly, Gyeonggi Province, the Court Administration Office, the Ministry of Justice, and Uijeongbu City for the development of northern Gyeonggi Province," adding, "Now that we have secured the golden time for project implementation, we will actively communicate with relevant agencies and spare no effort to quickly provide 'one-stop legal services' to the residents of northern Gyeonggi Province."
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