SNU Wins 1st Round of Battle Over Land Ownership
By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
A court registry ruled in favor of Seoul National University (SNU) in a legal battle over the ownership of a 42,600 square-meter land, worth about 1 trillion won ($800 million) in Euljiro, Seoul. The university has been in a dispute with the Ministry of National Defense over the land ownership after the ministry registered the land, where the Far East District (FED) of the U.S. Army is now situated, under its name last May.
A registry office at the Seoul Central District Court accepted the university's request to transfer the ownership of the land from the defense ministry to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, which funds SNU. The registration under the education ministry is the prerequisite for the state-run school to claim ownership.
However, the defense ministry immediately reacted to the decision and appealed to the registry office.
"The FED site belongs to us under the Status of Forces Agreement and it is critical property for us to finance the relocation of the United States Forces Korea (USFK). If we lose the land, the relocation plan of the U.S. Army might be deadlocked," said a ministry official.
SNU originally had an affiliated elementary school on the controversial site, but after the Korean War broke out, the land was offered to the U.S. Army.
As the army base is scheduled to move to Pyeongtaek in Gyeonggi Province, the USFK returned the land to the government, which ignited the dispute.
While the defense ministry is claiming the government has already provided another elementary school site in Jongno-gu to the university, SNU is rejecting the claim, saying the land in Jongno-gu was not an alternative for the land in Euljiro.