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Yongsan-gu Office Partially Loses Lawsuit Against 'Company Owned by Lawyer Ko Seung-duk's Wife' Regarding Park Site

[비즈한국] The Yongsan-gu Office has partially lost a land compensation lawsuit against Market Day LLC, a company where the wife of lawyer Ko Seung-duk serves as an executive. This is because the court recognized that the Yongsan-gu Office had omitted compensation for trees planted on the land when it expropriated the site owned by Market Day.

On June 13, the Seoul Administrative Court ruled partially in favor of the plaintiff in an administrative lawsuit filed by Market Day LLC against the Seoul Yongsan-gu Office to cancel the expropriation decision, ordering, "The Yongsan-gu Office must pay 32.05 million KRW to Market Day." The court accepted Market Day's claim for compensation regarding 95 planted trees, but did not accept the argument that the land should be appraised as building land rather than as a park.

This lawsuit stemmed from a conflict over the sites of Dream Tree Small Park and Ichon Small Park in Ichon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, which were previously owned by Market Day. These sites were purchased by Market Day from the Government Employees Pension Service for approximately 4.2 billion KRW in 2007 and were the former locations of the Ichon Police Substation.

On January 16, 2020, the Yongsan-gu Office authorized the implementation plan for the Dream Tree Small Park and Ichon Small Park development projects and expropriated the land owned by Market Day in October 2021. Market Day filed an objection to the expropriation decision, but it was dismissed in December 2022.

In February 2023, Market Day filed an administrative lawsuit against the Yongsan-gu Office, arguing that the land expropriated by the district should be valued as building land rather than a park and that the value of the 95 trees planted on the site should be calculated. The litigation value claimed by Market Day reached 56.63 billion KRW. The spouse of lawyer Ko Seung-duk serves as a director with representative rights at Market Day, and Ko Seung-duk acted as the legal counsel for Market Day in this lawsuit.

The total area of the land that Market Day argued should be valued as building land is 3029.9㎡ (1293㎡ for Dream Tree Small Park and 1736.9㎡ for Ichon Small Park), which is approximately 916 pyeong.

The Enforcement Rule of the Act on Acquisition of and Compensation for Land, etc. for Public Works Projects states that "if the restriction under public law is imposed for the purpose of implementing the relevant public work, it shall be appraised assuming a state without such restriction." Accordingly, it was pointed out that the site should have been appraised without the restriction of being designated for park use at the time of expropriation.

Market Day argued that the land should be appraised as building land on the grounds that it was not compensated for even when it was turned into a park in the early 1970s, but the court did not accept this, stating that the land was owned by the state at that time.

However, regarding the 95 trees planted on the site, the court determined that they should be included in the scope of property for which Market Day should receive compensation, considering that the Yongsan-gu Office could not prove the timing or circumstances of when the trees were planted. Accordingly, the court ruled that the Yongsan-gu Office must pay 32.05 million KRW to Market Day for the trees based on the appraisal results.

Following the ruling, Market Day, dissatisfied with the partial victory, filed an appeal on June 23. Regarding whether to appeal, the Yongsan-gu Office stated, "We cannot comment beyond the content of the ruling."