The backers of a stalled South Korea resort scheme (pictured) due to have a foreigner-only casino, have failed in their attempt to reverse a government decision declaring the gaming portion of the project “invalid”.
The news was given on Wednesday to R&F Korea (RFKR), would-be developer of the casino resort, by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, which upheld its original March ruling.
The information was confirmed to GGRAsia on Thursday, following our telephone enquiry to the authorities.
The Ministry indicated that the much-delayed casino-hotel project by RFKR – a firm linked to Hong Kong-listed Chinese real estate group Guangzhou R&F Properties Co Ltd – was now officially terminated in terms of the gaming element.
RFKR was approached by GGRAsia for comment, but declined to do so.
The government department told GGRAsia that RFKR would still have the option of trying to challenge the decision either through what it termed administrative litigation, or an administrative court hearing.
RFKR had filed its appeal against scheme invalidation on June 12. The ministry had stated it was required to respond within 15 days
Earlier this month an RFKR representative told GGRAsia the firm was entitled – under the terms of the local land register – to retain ownership of its Incheon site, under the designation “commercial facilities”.
Incheon Housing & City Development Corp is discussing currently with the Incheon Metropolitan City Government and Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority (IFEZA) a proposal that would see the planning designation of RFKR’s site, switch from “commercial facilities” to “residential area”.
That is according to a Monday statement.
