A proposal to transfer and reorganize legal institutions such as the Supreme Court and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-dong, Seoul, and then use the sites as public land for youth dwellings emerged in the National Assembly. As the government is reviewing a plan to use part of Yongsan Park for housing supply, the argument is to also examine sites of public institutions in downtown Seoul as supply candidates. However, this is not a plan the government is reviewing, and it is a long-term idea that would require institutional transfers, organizational restructuring, and securing alternative office buildings.
Hwang Un-ha of the Rebuilding Korea Party on the 19th proposed at a full meeting of the Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee that Minister Kim Yun-duk of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport use the Seocho-dong legal town sites, saying, "There is not much time to find land for housing supply only in Yongsan Park."
Hwang said, "Isn't the Supreme Prosecutors' Office being changed to the Public Prosecution Office?" and added, "If the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office and the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office are consolidated, the land in Seocho-dong can be used." He continued, "If the Supreme Prosecutors' Office site is used, about 30,000 pyeong can be secured," and said, "Please consider using it as public land."
He also mentioned the transfer of the Supreme Court. Hwang said, "The Supreme Court requires the National Assembly to pass a transfer bill," suggesting that even the Supreme Court site could be used for housing supply.
However, even if the Prosecution Service is changed to the Public Prosecution Office, the Seocho-dong office building will not immediately become an idle site. The Public Prosecution Office Act, which takes effect in Oct., stipulates that the Public Prosecution Office, the Metropolitan Public Prosecution Office, and the Local Public Prosecution Office be established corresponding to the Supreme Court, the High Courts, and the District Courts, respectively. For the consolidation of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office and the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office and the site conversion proposed by Hwang to take place, additional organizational restructuring and transfer measures are needed.
Questions also continued over the plan to use part of Yongsan Park for housing supply at the meeting that day. When Hwang asked whether the issue of Yongsan Park would be discussed at a meeting scheduled with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on the 20th, the Minister Kim said, "We plan to discuss several pending issues, including Yongsan Park," and noted, "We will go through the legislative and deliberative process."
Who will bear the cost of remediating Yongsan Park's soil contamination also became a point of contention. When Kim Eun-hye of the People Power Party asked who would bear the remediation expense, estimated at about 1 trillion won, the Minister Kim said, "I think it is principle that the United States is responsible for the contamination issue," and said the ministry would work closely with the Ministry of National Defense.