By Lee Min-hyung
The Ministry of National Defense plans to discuss demolishing the Dragon Hill Hotel, a lodging facility for U.S. soldiers inside the Yongsan garrison with the United States Forces Korea (USFK).
This is in line with the relocation of USFK headquarters from Yongsan to Pyeongtaek in Gyeonggi Province by the end of this year. The USFK initially planned to keep the hotel in Yongsan.
However, there have been complaints from locals that the existence of the hotel is not helpful for a plan to redevelop the Yongsan base.
“We will take enough time with the USFK to discuss the details for the demolition of the facility,” defense ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo said in a media briefing, Tuesday.
According to Choi, no detailed steps, such as timing have been decided.
In 2014, Korea and the U.S. agreed to relocate the U.S. Army at the Yongsan Garrison to Pyeongtaek, but decided to leave the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC) headquarters in Yongsan. But this January, the two sides agreed to relocate even the CFC headquarters inside the defense ministry.
The lodging facility has since stood at the center of the controversy, as its fate has so far remained undecided.