Dokdo Land Value Rises to 700M Won

The land value of the Dokdo islets increased from 273 million won last year to 737,799,945 won this year, as the number of land lots increased and its land category was revised.

The territory was previously labeled as “San 1-37 ” (Dokdo-ri, Ulleung-eup, Ulleung-gun, North Gyeongsang Province), but is now labeled, “house number 1-96”.

The Ulleung-gun area office said on Thursday that the number of land lots grew as the office designated separate land lot numbers to stone islets bigger than one square meter in September 2005.

As a result, the area of Dokdo grew by 6,652m² to 187,554m².

Up until last year, the land category of Dokdo was all labeled as forests and fields; now the land is divided into lots, forests and fields and mixed land. Lots, land designated as living quarters, encompasses three sites: barracks for security officers (1,614m²), a lighthouse (810 m²) in East Dokdo, and fishermen’s living quarters in West Dokdo (307m²). The mixed land holds seven facilities including East and West Dokdo piers, East Dokdo’s helicopter landing site, and a water tank. The rest of the islets are labeled as forests and fields.

A total of 101 pieces of land were included in the survey, up from 37 pieces of land last year. The Ministry of Construction and Transportation valued the pier system (lots 27 and 28) at 114,000 won per square meter, up from 95,000 won last year. The cheapest of the forests and fields was priced at 315 won, and the land value of the whole island is now priced at 737,799,945 won.

The posted price of all the land was first announced at 263 million won in 2000, and was 273 million won last year.

Kwon-Hyo Lee boriam@donga.com