Chuncheon halts Gangwon Province headquarters construction after trove of artifacts found

Chuncheon city officials on Wednesday ordered a halt to construction of the new Gangwon Province headquarters in Goeun-ri, Dongne-myeon, and notified the provincial government of the decision.

The stoppage came after a civic group reported discovering a large number of artifacts at the site, believed to date from the Stone Age through the Iron Age.

The group that filed the report was the Chuncheon Jungdo Prehistoric Site Preservation Headquarters, a civic organization that had been investigating the scene until the previous evening on Tuesday.

Chuncheon city officials told the group by phone that they had notified Gangwon Province of the construction halt and planned to visit the site in the afternoon.

The action followed the discovery of 97 objects believed to be buried cultural heritage at the new headquarters construction site on Tuesday.

Of the 97 objects found, 67 came from areas already declared fully excavated and backfilled, while 30 were found in sections that had never undergone detailed excavation surveys, the civic group said. The 67 finds in areas deemed fully excavated raised serious concerns about the adequacy of prior surveys.

The group filed emergency discovery reports with the Cultural Heritage Administration and Chuncheon city on Wednesday morning, calling for a construction halt, preservation of the site, a direct on-site inspection by the Cultural Heritage Administration and any necessary re-investigation.

The Cultural Heritage Administration had previously instructed Gangwon Province in an official letter dated July 23 — document No. Yujeok Balgul-gwa-10583 — that if any remains or artifacts suspected of being national heritage were found during construction, work must stop immediately, the site must not be altered and the administration must be notified.

Attention is now focused on Chuncheon city's planned afternoon visit to the construction site and what follow-up measures it will take.

The civic group said Chuncheon city must directly confirm the finds on-site and ensure that proper investigation and preservation measures are carried out for both the areas previously declared fully excavated and those that have yet to undergo detailed surveys.