Baegunsan Lease in Gwangyang Ends This Year... Civic Groups Unite in Calling for National Park Status

Following the 8.15 Declaration of Independence Rally,
Citizen Event Set for September 11

Committee Calls for Transition to a National Public Management System

As the free usage period of Seoul National University’s Southern Research Forest surrounding Baegunsan Mountain in Gwangyang, Jeonnam-Gwangju Special City, is set to end at the end of this year, local civil society is accelerating efforts to oppose Seoul National University’s re-lease and to call for the designation of Baegunsan as a national park. The free usage term for Seoul National University’s Southern Research Forest on Baegunsan will expire on December 31, 2026.

The local community has increasingly voiced the need to end the Seoul National University-centered management system that has persisted for 80 years, and to return Baegunsan to the people as a natural asset, thereby establishing a public management system under national responsibility.

As the free usage period of Seoul National University’s Southern Academic Forest surrounding Baegunsan Mountain in Gwangyang is set to end later this year, local civic groups have come forward to oppose the re-lease by Seoul National University and to urge the designation of Baegunsan as a national park. Provided by the Preparatory Committee for the Designation of Gwangyang Baegunsan National Park

The Baegunsan National Park Designation Promotion Preparation Committee held the "8·15 Gwangyang Baegunsan Declaration of Independence Rally" on August 15, the 81st anniversary of Korea's Liberation, at the summit of Baegunsan, and declared a transition for Baegunsan away from Seoul National University's Southern Research Forest management system and toward public management.

In its declaration released that day, the committee emphasized, "Baegunsan is not the mountain of any particular university or institution, but the living foundation of the people of Gwangyang and a mountain for all the citizens of Korea." The committee further stressed, "The year 2026 marks the end of the free usage period for Seoul National University and represents a historic turning point to newly decide the future of Baegunsan."

The committee further asserted, "The government and the political circles can no longer neglect the Baegunsan issue or simply delay action," adding, "By ending the re-lease to Seoul National University and designating the area as a national park, a public management system that reflects nature, history, and the will of the citizens must be established."

The committee urged the government not to permit any re-lease or re-use of Baegunsan by Seoul National University after the termination of the free usage period. It also called on Gwangyang City to clarify its stance on the national park designation and to form a dedicated task force (TF) to devise procedures for the national park designation and public management. Baegunsan serves as a key forest ecological axis connecting the eastern Jeonnam region, including Gwangyang, Suncheon, and Gurye.

The Baegunsan area was designated as a practice forest for Tokyo Imperial University in 1912 during the Japanese colonial era and, after Korea’s Liberation, has been operated and managed as the Southern Research Forest by Seoul National University since 1946, after it was lent from the U.S. military government.

Local residents have claimed that they have been subject to various restrictions, such as permit procedures for harvesting gorosoe sap or collecting wild plants in the Baegunsan area, insisting that the structure, in which national assets are tied to the management system of a particular university, must be changed to address the inconvenience it causes to residents’ livelihoods and forest use.

The Baegunsan issue became a major local concern from 2010, when corporatization discussions for Seoul National University began. At that time, civic groups opposed Seoul National University’s push for free transfer of Baegunsan Research Forest; in 2014, Gwangyang City and Gurye County adopted a recommendation for national park designation. Later, in 2019, the Ministry of Economy and Finance officially stated opposition to Seoul National University’s request for additional free transfer.

The Gwangyang civic community views this year, marking the expiration of the free usage period for Seoul National University, as a critical turning point for the management of Baegunsan. Civic organizations plan to demand the establishment of a consultative body that includes the government, local authorities, Seoul National University, and local society, while continuing public campaigns for national park designation and the establishment of a public management system under national responsibility.

In particular, the Baegunsan National Park Designation Promotion Committee plans to hold an event with citizens on September 11 at the main auditorium of Gwangyang City Hall to share the necessity of public management for Baegunsan and discuss the direction for promoting national park designation. A representative from the preparation committee stated, "Baegunsan must no longer remain under the management of a specific institution. After the end of the free usage period, we will prevent any re-lease, advance the discussion on national park designation into actual procedures, and return Baegunsan to the embrace of citizens and the people."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.