THE POLICIES AND LIMITATIONS TO THE INVALIDATION OF URBAN PARKS

A Sign of Urban Parks in Turmoil

ou might ask whether sunset in the urban park close to your home means that you can no longer enter. The answer to this is more complex than it seems: parks on the private land that were not bought by the public will now lose their legal effect and will no longer be used as parks for citizens. The urban parks in Korea, which have been built since 1940s, significantly increased in number from the 1970s and 1980s, but since the 1990s, private landowners in urban parks began to demand their cancellation and compensation for their operation. Mr. Go, the owner of 948,760m out of Daemosan Urban Nature Park sued the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) and Gangnam-gu office for the illegal use of trails and sports facilities by local residents around the mineral spring in June 1996, and restricted people’s access by putting up wire fences. The Supreme Court of Korea ruled in favour of Mr. Go by ordering the authorities to remove the facility and pay compensation of about 100 million KRW, alleging illegal occupation of the facility. This case has exposed some privately owned urban parks to the danger of closure at any time.