British Embassy returns street along Deoksu Palace to public

A new street that opened on Monday / Korea Times photo by Kim Se-jeong

By Kim Se-jeong

The British Embassy returned part of its land next to the Deoksu Palace wall in downtown Seoul to Korea, Tuesday.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the 100-meter stretch will be used to create a pedestrian path along the palace wall.

“We thank the British Embassy for returning the piece of land to Korea,” Mayor Park Won-soon said during a ceremony held on the site, Tuesday.

The British Embassy has owned this piece of land since 1959. Another section remaining on embassy soil accounts for 70 more meters, which the British government purchased in April 1883 to establish its legation.

King Gojong (1853-1919) moved into the palace in 1897 to be near the British Legation, as well as the American and Russian ones. In those days, gates connected the palace grounds with the three foreign legations, but all have been removed.

Mayor Park began the project to construct a walkway encircling the palace in 2014.