[Anchor]

The Namwon theme park project, pursued with loan guarantees from the city of Namwon, is facing one hurdle after another. Although the city paid off more than 50 billion won on behalf of the developer, the ownership of the monorail facilities still remains with the private operator, and three monorail stations have now been put up for forced auction.

Kim Min-ji from JTV reports.

[Reporter]

Trains remain parked rigidly at the station, and thick layers of dust cover the rails.

The private operator borrowed money backed by Namwon's guarantees to build the amusement facilities, but shut down operations after just a year and a half due to financial difficulties.

In February, Namwon eventually paid off 50.5 billion won on their behalf.

However, it was revealed that a monorail maintenance company, which had not been paid by the private operator, applied for an auction of the stations to secure its claims.

Three buildings housing the Namwon monorail stations, which have been stalled for over two years, recently went up for court-ordered forced auction.

This is because their ownership still belongs to the private operator.

Initially, the private operator was supposed to donate the facilities to Namwon after construction, but the city refused to accept them.

As a result, despite shouldering a financial burden of over 50 billion won, the city failed to take over the facilities, and parts of them could now fall into the hands of a third party.

[Kang Dong-won / Regional Committee Chairman, Rebuilding Korea Party: It is not even our property, and with the auction applied for, we are in a situation where we have to acquire it again. After that, the issues of whether to demolish it or restart operations remain.]

Namwon is seeking to recover the money it paid on their behalf by filing a reimbursement lawsuit against the private operator, while also pursuing ways to secure ownership of the facilities through auctions.

[Noh Kyeong-rok / Head of Tourism Division, Namwon City: Right after losing the Supreme Court case, we immediately proceeded with a reimbursement lawsuit to secure our claims, and with that, planned to retrieve the real estate and tangible chattels. That was the strategy we devised and pursued.]

However, securing the stations through an auction does not mean all problems are solved.

Apart from the real estate, the ownership of the remaining facilities—such as the rails, monorail cars, and electrical equipment, which are tangible chattels—also needs to be sorted out.

In particular, if a third party wins the bid for the stations and engages in so-called land-anchoring tactics, Namwon's plans to take over and operate the facilities are bound to run into trouble.

Even if monorail operations resume, additional costs for safety inspections and repairs on facilities that have been suspended for a long time remain a variable.

Namwon has failed to secure the facilities even after paying off a 50 billion won debt.

The city continues to heave sighs as it remains unclear how much more time and money will be needed to clean up the monorail mess.

(Video Journalist: Kwon Man-taek (JTV))

JTV News, MINJI