Racehorses bolt from the starting line at a racecourse inside Let’sRun Park Seoul in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, Feb. 15. Courtesy of Korea Racing Authority

The country’s horse racing authority is raising hairs against the central government over plans to relocate the nation's largest horse racing park as part of a new housing initiative.

Amid the tension surrounding Let’sRun Park Seoul in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, some local governments in the province are seeking to attract the park to their areas.

While the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is discussing the relocation with the Korea Racing Authority (KRA), it remains unclear whether the move will go ahead amid opposition from the KRA and the Gwacheon city government.

The state-run agency, which operates racecourses in Seoul, Busan and Jeju Island, is reportedly reluctant to move Let’sRun Park Seoul. The park, situated on a 1.14 million-square-meter site, has been the center of the country’s horse racing and betting since it opened in 1989.

Last year, it drew more than 4 million visitors and generated an estimated 1.2 trillion won ($820 million) in ticket sales, accounting for 20 percent of the KRA’s total revenue. The park remains a key source of income for the Gwacheon-based authority.

When the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on Jan. 29 plans to build new apartments on the park’s site and the surroundings to house 9,800 households, the KRA said it was caught off guard. The agency did not agree to the plan, and its position has not changed.

The KRA has two main objections. First, the new location for the park has not been decided. More importantly, no one has explained how the relocation, estimated to cost over 3 trillion won, would be financed.

“They [the central government] just told us to move. Where are we supposed to go? They haven’t provided any alternative,” KRA Vice Chairman Bang Se-kwon said. “All our employees are concerned, and most of them oppose the relocation.”

Members of the Korea Racing Authority labor union and local residents of Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, protest at Let’sRun Park Seoul, Feb. 25, the central government’s plan to relocate the park to make way for a housing project. Yonhap

Source: Korea Times News