Incoming Jongno-gu district mayor orders halt to all permits, stalling Sewoon Zone 4 redevelopment

Yu Chan-jong, the incoming Jongno-gu district mayor, has ordered the district's mayoral transition team to suspend all permit and licensing procedures before he takes office, effectively stalling the Sewoon Zone 4 redevelopment project near Jongmyo Shrine that the Seoul Metropolitan Government has been pushing forward. Jongno-gu had originally planned to finalize its decision on whether to approve a revised implementation plan for the Sewoon Zone 4 project by June 24.

Yu, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, confirmed the directive in a phone interview Thursday. "I told them to halt all licensing and permit procedures until I take office," he said, adding that he had also warned that an audit would follow if any permits were pushed through regardless.

Asked specifically about the revised implementation plan approval for Sewoon Zone 4, Yu said the ongoing permit process must likewise be suspended. He left some room for negotiation, however, saying the views of Jongno-gu residents and cultural heritage considerations both needed to be factored in, and that the permit issue would have to be renegotiated with the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

Yu's camp and Jongno-gu assembled transition-related organizations Wednesday, with the formal launch of the transition committee set for Monday. The Ministry of Interior and Safety also sent a circular to local governments nationwide on Friday — the day after the election — asking them to refrain from personnel appointments and permit approvals until newly elected leaders take office.

The Sewoon Zone 4 redevelopment project calls for a high-rise building reaching up to 142 meters directly across from Jongmyo Shrine in central Seoul. The project recently cleared a structural safety impact assessment and was awaiting Jongno-gu's approval. Under the standard process, once an external assessment body completes its review and a Seoul Metropolitan Government expert committee deliberates and votes on it, the relevant district issues the building permit and approves the implementation plan.

Jongno-gu had committed to notifying the project of its decision by June 24, but the change in district leadership introduced a new variable. A Jongno-gu official said the processing period would be extended.

Sewoon Zone 4 has long suffered from severe deterioration, but redevelopment stalled due to poor project viability. In response, the Seoul Metropolitan Government significantly relaxed height restrictions in the zone last October — raising the limit along the Jongno side from 55 meters to 98.7 meters and along the Cheonggyecheon side from 71.9 meters to 141.9 meters. The Cultural Heritage Administration opposed the project, arguing it would damage the view from Jongmyo Shrine, and ordered the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Jongno-gu and the Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation to complete a Heritage Impact Assessment before proceeding. Seoul has resisted, saying the assessment process would take so long that it would in effect make the project impossible to advance.

The standoff is shaping up to be the first instance of the political realignment brought about by the June 3 local elections putting the brakes on a project championed by Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon. Oh said in a YouTube video posted last December that the Sewoon district redevelopment was directly connected to his "Gangbuk Renaissance" initiative.

The June 3 elections flipped the balance of power among Seoul's district mayors: the People Power Party, which had held 17 of the city's district mayorships to the Democratic Party's eight, now holds just eight to the Democratic Party's 17. The outgoing Jongno-gu district mayor, Jung Mun-heon of the People Power Party, had been a vocal supporter of the Sewoon Zone 4 redevelopment that Mayor Oh has championed.

In an interview in February, Jung said the Cultural Heritage Administration's push to expand the Heritage Impact Assessment requirement without clear criteria or a defined scope amounted to excessive regulation that, under the guise of protecting cultural heritage, unreasonably constrained residents' lives and the normal functioning of the city.