The Ministry of National Defense said on the 18th that starting this year it will provide local governments with information on idle land that the military no longer uses.
Idle military land refers to land that was originally used as a military base site but is no longer used due to consolidations and relocations of units. Local governments have tried to use idle military land for regional development projects, but they have faced difficulties due to many restrictions on access to information.
In response, the Ministry of National Defense changed its policy to accept applications from local governments for information needed for regional development projects—such as the locations and sizes of idle military land—identify sites that meet the criteria, and provide the information local governments want in a customized format.
Information on idle military land will be provided once in the first half and once in the second half of the year. In the first half of this year, a demand survey of local governments will be conducted from today through on the 12th of next month, with replies to be sent within the following month.
An official at the Ministry of National Defense said, "We hope this will serve as a primer to boost the regional economy," and noted, "We will seek to improve systems for military-civilian coexistence."