Kim Byung-wook calls Bundang reconstruction levy 'administrative failure,' demands Shin Sang-jin resign

Kim Byung-wook, the Democratic Party of Korea's candidate for Seongnam mayor, on Sunday called for the resignation of incumbent Mayor Shin Sang-jin, holding him directly responsible for the controversy over public contribution requirements tied to Bundang reconstruction projects.

Kim said Seongnam City's "unreasonable standard-setting and flawed administrative judgment" had significantly increased the burden on residents, and demanded that Mayor Shin offer a formal apology and a credible explanation.

Kim said the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's account of events contradicts the mayor's camp, which has argued that the problems stemmed from "misunderstandings by project operators" and that Seongnam City had proactively corrected the situation.

"The Land Ministry's position is that Seongnam City presented the criteria for the pilot district competition without adequate consultation, and in effect treated long-life housing certification, an additional 5 percent public contribution, and the securing of extra relocation housing as preconditions," Kim said. "The root of the problem is not a developer's misunderstanding — it is Seongnam City's unreasonable standard design."

He also said the city had pushed ahead with publishing the master plan and designating improvement zones even after the Land Ministry had repeatedly called for corrections. "If they knew and pressed on anyway, this is not a simple mistake — it is irresponsible administration," he said.

Kim particularly noted that Mayor Shin's camp had mentioned a "review of the floor area ratio calculation method" and "relief of the public contribution burden" on April 14, yet neither commitment appeared in the final public notice issued later that month. "The word was 'review,' but the result was no change," he said. "Promising to reduce the burden on residents and then publishing a notice with no changes whatsoever is not accountable governance — it is a face-saving excuse."

Kim said reports indicate the total public contribution from the four pilot districts amounts to roughly 3.7831 trillion won (about $2.52 billion), and that criticism is growing that approximately 1 trillion won in additional costs — burdens that could have been avoided had the correct formula been applied — have been passed on to residents. "This is not merely a dispute over calculations. It is a serious administrative failure that directly affects residents' property rights," he said.

He added that in mid-May the Land Ministry sent an official letter demanding a review and correction of special improvement plans drawn up under the Special Act on the Improvement and Support of Aging Planned Cities, after finding that some local governments had calculated public contributions differently from the government's basic guidelines. "At this point, there is no room left for excuses. The central government has in effect said: recalculate and fix it," Kim said.

Kim called on Mayor Shin to give clear answers to three questions: why the Land Ministry's requests for improvement were not properly reflected; why the April 14 pledge to review the formula and ease the burden was dropped from the final public notice; and how the mayor can tell residents that "everything is false" when the Land Ministry itself is demanding a review and correction.

Kim also outlined a remedy. If elected mayor, he said he would immediately launch a "public contribution recalculation task force" to recompute the disputed charges from scratch, make a resident cost-sharing simulator fully public, and pursue cooperative rather than adversarial relations with the Land Ministry — minimizing the burden on residents while maximizing the pace of redevelopment.

"Administration can make mistakes. But if, after making a mistake, officials hide the facts, evade responsibility and try to deceive residents with false explanations, that is not an error — it is deception," Kim said. "Acknowledging the mistake, apologizing to the public and withdrawing from the race is the bare minimum expected of a public official."

Mayor Shin's campaign committee rebuffed the criticism in a statement issued the same day, calling the Land Ministry's recent announcements and Kim's arguments based on them "election-season attacks that distort the facts," and demanding that the ministry "immediately stop actions that raise suspicions of interference in the election."

Shin's campaign committee called for a public apology from the Land Ministry and Kim, an end to what it described as government interference in the election, disclosure of how the ministry's official letter was leaked, corrections and apologies from news outlets it said had singled out Seongnam City unfairly, and Kim's own apology and withdrawal from the race.