Historic U.S. base in Incheon finally returned to Korea after 80 years

U.S. base Camp Market in Bupyeong District, Incheon, shown in this photo, was fully returned to Korea on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

The U.S. base Camp Market in Incheon was fully returned to the South Korean government on Wednesday.

Some 257,000 square meters (63.5 acres) of Camp Market was returned on Wednesday, as were several U.S. military communication posts across the country, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Wednesday's move completed the return of all 473,000 square meters area of Camp Market to South Korea. Some parts of the base were returned in 2019.

“We believe that this will help speed up the Incheon city government’s plan to develop the base,” said the Foreign Ministry.

The base in Incheon's Bupyeong District will be repurposed as a public park, marking the first time in some eight decades that the area will be open to the public.

The Japanese military founded an arsenal at the site in 1939 during Japan’s 1910-45 occupation of Korea.

Following Korea’s independence in 1945, the area became a U.S. military base.

The city government of Incheon is surveying residents through Jan. 7 to determine how they would like the park to appear.

A city committee will assess the poll results in March next year.

The Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that the planned return of other U.S. military bases will be “carried out swiftly” following further consultations with the U.S. government.

Korea and the United States agreed in May 2003 to relocate 80 U.S. bases across the country to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, and Daegu. As part of the agreement, the U.S. Forces Korea and United Nations Command moved their headquarters to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek in 2018.

Washington and Seoul struck another agreement in June 2020 to retain several U.S. military facilities in downtown Seoul's sprawling Yongsan Garrison, such as a branch office of the USFK and the UN Command.

Around 30 percent of the 2 million-square-meter Yongsan Garrison had been returned as of August last year, according to the Korean government.

Korea intends to transform Yongsan Garrison into a public park connecting the National Museum of Korea and the War Memorial of Korea.

The schedule to open the park, initially set for 2027, was adjusted in December 2021 to at least seven years after the complete return of the garrison, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]