Sokcho Mayor Lee Byung-sun said Tuesday that the city had lifted "unreasonable military regulations that have blocked regional development for 35 years."
The Ministry of National Defense announced a change to the military facility protection zone designation, reducing the restricted protection zone around a military communications facility in Yongchon-ri, Toseong-myeon, Goseong-gun from a 2-kilometer radius to 500 meters. The change is set to be published in the official gazette Wednesday.
As a result, height restrictions that had applied to 1,887 square kilometers across the Jangsa-dong and Yeongrang-dong areas of Sokcho will in effect be lifted entirely, freeing most residential zones from regulation.
The Jangsa and Yeongrang areas had been designated as restricted protection zones for about 35 years following a 1991 amendment to the Military Telecommunications Act, which tightened regulations around military communications facilities. Within a 2-kilometer radius of the facility, construction and expansion of buildings exceeding an elevation angle of 2 degrees had been prohibited, placing significant constraints on residents' property rights and local development.
As various development projects, including apartment complexes, were concentrated in the southern part of the city, the development gap between neighborhoods widened. Over the past decade, Sokcho's overall registered population fell by about 4 percent, while the Jangsa and Yeongrang areas saw a roughly 20 percent decline — fueling persistent calls for reform of the military regulations.
With the regulation lifted, conditions for urban development in the Jangsa and Yeongrang areas are expected to improve significantly, opening the door to projects such as renovation of aging housing, construction of apartment complexes and expansion of infrastructure.
fob140@heraldcorp.com
