A court has sided with the Daegu city government in a lawsuit filed by Korea National Railway seeking the removal of a statue of former President Park Chung-hee installed on the plaza atop the Dongdaegu Station overpass. The ruling comes about one year and 10 months after the statue was erected in December 2024, during the tenure of former Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo.
The 11th civil division of the Daegu District Court, presided over by Chief Judge Kwon Jun-beom, ruled against the plaintiff on the 1st in the suit brought by Korea National Railway against the city seeking an order for the city to remove and return the structure.
Korea National Railway had demanded the statue's removal, arguing that the city installed it on state-owned land without separate consultation and that the installation was therefore unlawful. The agency maintained that because it held ownership or possessory rights, the city needed prior consent to erect the statue. On Dec. 13, 2024, the agency filed an injunction request with the Daegu District Court to halt the work.
The city countered that it holds management and use rights over the Dongdaegu Station plaza. It also argued that demanding the removal of only the Park statue while tolerating other installed facilities ran counter to fairness. The city further said the agency's position — that it would transfer ownership of the plaza only if the statue were removed, at a point when the related project was effectively complete and awaiting nothing but completion approval — amounted to an abuse of rights.
The court found that at the time the statue was erected, the city was recognized as holding use or management rights allowing it to install, manage and operate various facilities on the overpass. The court viewed Korea National Railway as having tolerated the city's installation and management of facilities until now. It based its reasoning on the fact that the city had, in practice, used and managed the structure entirely since around the time the Dongdaegu Station overpass was completed, and that the agency raised no particular objection over roughly seven years as the city installed and managed various facilities after the plaza on top of the overpass was finished.
The court also held that it was difficult to regard the erection of the Park statue as an "important matter" requiring prior consultation under the improvement project entrustment agreement between the agency and the city.
The court further ruled that the existence of political controversy alone made it difficult to conclude that the Park statue, selectively among other installations, fell outside the scope of the city's use and management rights. It found no evidence that the statue had created structural or safety risks to the overpass that would make removal unavoidable.
The city held an unveiling ceremony for the statue at the Dongdaegu Station plaza on Dec. 23, 2024, while Hong was mayor. The city pursued the installation as part of a commemorative project for the former president, spending about 600 million won to erect the 3-meter statue. The statue depicts Park smiling during a harvest in September 1965, while he was in office.
Opinion in the local community has been divided. Civic groups and progressive parties in Daegu have objected since the installation plan became known, citing Park's pro-Japanese activities, among other grounds. The city, for its part, has said that while historical assessments of Park's achievements and failures vary, aspects such as the spirit of industrialization deserve to be honored. Those opposing removal submitted to the court a petition signed by 30,602 residents.
