Chuncheon city officials confirmed Thursday that 388 artifacts have been found at the construction site of the new Gangwon Province headquarters in Goeun-ri, Dongnaemyeon.
The city's Culture and Arts Division received a report of the artifact discovery on Sept. 1, ordered construction halted the following day, and then conducted a field investigation with the Cultural Heritage Administration before carrying out artifact recovery work with a specialist institution.
The findings cast doubt on a report Gangwon Province submitted to the Cultural Heritage Administration in June, which stated that only 49 artifacts had been recovered during the standard pre-construction excavation survey — a figure that now appears to have been significantly understated.
Chuncheon city said all 388 items are confirmed artifacts. Until now, the civic group Jungdo Bonbu — which filed the original report — as well as Gangwon Province Governor Woo Sang-ho and the city's lead officials had referred to the objects only as "presumed artifacts."
The city said it has notified the Cultural Heritage Administration of the 388 finds and is awaiting an official expert assessment of their historical value and significance.
In the abbreviated excavation report submitted to the Cultural Heritage Administration in June, Gangwon Province's relocation task force stated on page 115 that 49 artifacts had been recovered, including eight roof-tile fragments.
Gangwon Province and Chuncheon city have now officially confirmed that during September, 270 artifacts were found within the area already surveyed in June, and a further 118 were found in areas that had not been surveyed at all.
Jungdo Bonbu, the group that first reported the discovery, said the 270 artifacts recovered from the previously surveyed area alone represent 5.5 times the 49 items reported in June. "Because those 270 items were collected only from the surface layer covering the excavation site, the number of artifacts below the surface remains unknown," the group said, calling on the government to conduct a full investigation.
Kim Jong-mun, head of Jungdo Bonbu, said the Gukgang Archaeological Research Institute — the foundation that conducted the June excavation — was also put in charge of the September recovery work, raising questions about why the numbers differ. "The objectivity and independence of the recovery process must be verified, and if necessary, an independent review by a third-party specialist institution should be carried out," he said.
Under the Act on the Protection and Investigation of Buried Cultural Heritage, construction must be halted immediately upon the discovery of buried artifacts, and violations — including damage to a discovery site — are punishable by imprisonment. Public officials who fail to act on such findings may face charges of dereliction of duty.
Despite the provincial headquarters relocation being a project worth 500 billion won ($369 million), neither Gangwon Province nor Chuncheon city has issued an official press release about the artifact discovery or the construction halt in the more than a month since work was suspended. The silence has drawn criticism that it infringes on residents' right to information and fueled suspicions that the authorities may be concealing irregularities.
Whether investigative authorities will become involved in the matter remains to be seen.
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