By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
The official residence of the mayor of Seoul will be relocated soon because the current residence in Hyehwa-dong, Jongno-gu is located on a historical heritage site.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Monday that it would begin constructing a new official residence for the mayor in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu from March next year to help preserve the site of an ancient castle.
The government earmarked about 6 billion won ($ 6.6 million) for building the new residence by 2009.
In last June, the Cultural Heritage Administration called on the local government to remove the current residence, claiming that it could harm the site of an ancient castle.
The current residence was built in the 1940s when the Korean Peninsula was under Japanese colonial rule. It has been used as Seoul mayor's official residence since September 1980.
The new residence is supposed to have rooms for emergency meetings and spaces reserved for foreign guests of the mayor.