Jeju City and the Jungang Shopping Mall merchants association have been at odds over how the mall will be administered: either as a public facility, as it has been, or as a private one, which the merchants want. The association says it will not cooperate with the city in some major renovations that are planned, unless this issue is resolved. Here’s Joseph Kim with a closer look at the situation.
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Jeju City, mall merchants association signed agreement in Sept.

Jeju City and the Jungang Shopping Mall merchants association made a mutual cooperation agreement in September 2015.

The agreement states that Jeju City will complete renovation work as soon as possible and the merchants association will cooperate, but it seems that the agreement might be useless.

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Merchants association press conference

The mall merchants association officially conveyed their request on the bid and the management plan through a press conference.

Currently, the underground mall is publicly owned but the merchants requested the mall be privatized, and bidding for spaces should be collectively through an open bidding process.

Moreover, the mall merchants association is taking a hardline position on the renovation, stating that if Jeju City carries forward on the work without an agreement with the merchants association, they will not cooperate.

Interview
Yang Seung-seok / Chair, Jungang Shopping Mall Merchants Assn.
We agreed to it, seeing the bigger picture, and we are not going to ignore that. But they just notified us of their plans to renovate the mall in April without any prior discussions. That’s why we can’t cooperate.
< 양승석 / 중앙지하상점가 진흥사업협동조합 이사장 >
큰 틀에서 합의한 것이고 그 합의를 무시하겠다는 것은 아닙니다. 대신에 그 큰 틀이 이뤄지기 위해서는 유지할 수 있는 부분들이
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있어야 하는데 아무 상의도 없이 4월부터 공사하겠다고 구간까지
나눠서 일방적으로 통보했기 때문에 협조하지 못한다는 얘기죠.

To rebut to the merchants association, Jeju City held their own press conference. Jeju City clarified their position on the bid, stating that they don’t plan to change the mall’s classification to private owned property.

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‘Merchants association seeking to delay work’

The mall merchants association was criticized for making excuses to delay the renovation work through ordinance revisions. The renovation work on the basement will start from February and will be continued through 5 sections from the end of March.

Interview
Baek Gwang-sik / Dir., Municipal construction dept.
I’m sorry to hear that they won’t agree to the work and therefore are putting public safety at risk. The job has been split into five sections. We will complete it in 45 to 75 days by working around the clock.
< 백광식 / 제주시 도시건설교통국장 >
시민의 안전을 담보로 한 이런 공사임에도 불구하고 협의 없이
공사를 못하겠다고 지금에 와서 주장하는 부분에 대해서는
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굉장히 유감이라고 말씀드립니다. 이 공사는 5개 구간으로 구분해서
주.야간 공사를 45일에서 75일 이내에 마치도록 하겠습니다.

[reporter]
Joseph Kim

Disagreements and conflicts are expected to continue, not only in ordinance revision, but also in the renovation work of the Jungang Shopping mall, as Jeju City and the mall merchants’ association remain at loggerheads over ownership and bidding.

Joseph Kim KCTV