Military eases development restrictions around Susaek airfield near Seoul

The military will lift the flight safety zone covering 19.82 million square meters (7.7 square miles) around the Army's Susaek airfield in Goyang, Gyeonggi, and parts of western Seoul, the Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday, opening the area to greater residential and commercial development.

The additional measure comes a month after the Ministry of National Defense announced plans to ease civilian development restrictions by moving the Civilian Control Line (CCL) — a restricted area near the inter-Korean border — farther north.

The latest deregulation targets "areas where regional development and relief from inconvenience to residents are needed, and where military operations are deemed to be unaffected," the Defense Ministry said.

In total, military protection zones covering 29.16 million square meters across parts of Seoul, Gyeonggi, Gangwon and Sejong will be lifted or eased.

The affected neighborhoods in Gyeonggi include 17.61 million square meters in Goyang's Gangmae, Deogeun, Donae, Hyeoncheon and Hwajeon neighborhoods.

In Seoul, the impacted areas are 1.56 million square meters in the Sangam neighborhood of Mapo District, western Seoul, and 646,559 square meters in the Susaek neighborhood of Eunpyeong District, northern Seoul.

The move will remove the building height restriction of up to 45 meters (148 feet) imposed on the two Seoul neighborhoods.

The Susaek airfield, operated by the Army's 1st Corps, is an aviation support operations base where Army and Air Force fixed-wing aircraft, such as transport and reconnaissance planes, can take off and land during both wartime and peacetime.

However, the Air Force rarely uses the base during peacetime. The military therefore plans to redesign the airfield as a helicopter operations base for vertical takeoff and landing aircraft and lift development restrictions in the surrounding area.

Because helicopters require shorter runways than fixed-wing aircraft, their flight safety zones are also smaller. That, in turn, expands the area available for civilian development.

Similarly, 690,000 square meters of the flight safety zone around Jochiwon airfield, operated by the Army Aviation Operations Command in Wolhari, Sejong, will be lifted following the integration of Jochiwon and Yeongi airfields. The reduction amounts to about 90 percent of the flight safety zone originally established around Jochiwon airfield in the 1970s.

The ministry will also lift restricted military protection zones covering a combined 8.62 million square meters, including 6.39 million square meters in Goseong County and Sokcho in Gangwon; 1.33 million square meters around an ammunition depot in the Godeok International New Town neighborhood in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi; 770,000 square meters designated for Goyang Ilsan Techno Valley industrial complex and public housing projects in Goyang; and 137,000 square meters covering Yongsan Children's Garden, in Yongsan District, central Seoul, which lies outside the Defense Ministry compound.

A 17,000-square-meter site in the Gunja neighborhood of Siheung, Gyeonggi, that had been designated a controlled protection zone will be downgraded to a restricted protection zone.

Since the area is already home to a residential community, the authorities determined that the change would have little impact on military operations.

New construction and even civilian access are tightly restricted in controlled protection zones. In restricted protection zones, however, civilian development may be allowed under certain conditions after consultation with the military unit responsible for the area.

BY LEE YU-JUNG [[email protected]]