A group of merchants nearby the destroyed national treasure Sungnyemun filed a petition with a court, Thursday, to suspend the construction of an underground trash disposal facility nearby the historic site.
They said in a statement that the idea of siting such a facility near the valuable heritage is absurd and construction has gone ahead without being endorsed by the surrounding merchants, which is illegal.
They are also considering filing a suit against civil servants in charge of the project including the head of the Jung-gu ward office. Sungnyemun, which literarily means the South Gate of Seoul, is located in central Jung-gu.
But Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Jung-gu ward office argue that there was nothing wrong with the project, saying the construction was launched after winning approval from the Cultural Heritage Administration, the highest level government body in charge of maintaining national cultural heritages.
The administration said no relics were found in or around the construction site.
A spokesman for the ward office said it will take no immediate reaction. Sungnyemun was burnt down in February 2008 by an arsonist. A state-funded restoration project is underway to reconstruct it by 2012.