Seoul Mayor Oh draws line on Yongsan Children's Park: 'Not a single home can be built there'

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon flatly ruled out housing development at Yongsan Children's Park on Thursday, saying it was "absolutely out of the question" and that he felt the strongest obligation as mayor to preserve the site for future generations. The remarks drew a clear line against speculation that the park could be included in an upcoming government housing supply package.

Speaking at a 100-minute public forum on real estate stabilization held at Seoul City Hall from 10 a.m. Thursday, Oh said housing construction at Yongsan Children's Park was unthinkable. "People are already suffering through an extreme heat season, and Seoul cannot afford to give up its green space," he said. "Not a single home can be built in Yongsan Park."

The forum, held four days after the government unveiled its tax reform plan, drew concentrated concern that the measures could destabilize the jeonse and monthly rent market and dampen housing supply. Participants warned that tax reforms targeting ultra-luxury homes and tighter owner-occupancy requirements could end up squeezing middle-class households and tenants instead.

On the ground, participants described tenants pushed to the brink by tightened lending rules and the land transaction permit zone regime. Kim Min-jeong, a young woman who moved to Seoul from the provinces in June, said she and her parents had searched for a home but found almost nothing available. "There were only one or two places we could even look at, and with no jeonse units to be found, we ended up signing a monthly rent contract," she said. "Now I'm worried that the tighter owner-occupancy requirements will force us out of even this place we struggled so hard to find."

A licensed real estate agent who has run a brokerage in Cheonho-dong, Gangdong-gu for 25 years said the land transaction permit zone system had effectively confined apartment transactions to owner-occupants, while lending restrictions had dried up the supply of jeonse and monthly rental units. "We need policies that can revive not just the apartment rental market but the non-apartment rental market as well, along with stronger tenant protections," the agent said.

Participants also argued that the government's "punitive tax" regime had chilled supply-side actors such as multi-home owners and registered rental business operators. Lee Do-hoon, a non-apartment housing developer, said newly built villa unit developers typically needed to recoup project costs within one to three years through pre-sales, but unsold units were forcing them into the role of landlord against their will. "We put the units on jeonse first, but when it comes down to actually selling, the combined burden of capital gains tax and acquisition tax is so heavy that the incentive to launch the next project — and supply new housing — simply disappears," he said.

Calls also emerged for clearer regulatory conditions for corporate private rental operators capable of providing stable, long-term housing supply. Cho Gang-tae, chief executive of Mangrove MGRV, said eligibility requirements and volume constraints meant public rental housing could not absorb all residential demand. "Please reduce the legal, structural, tax and financial uncertainty so that corporate private rental housing can absorb rental demand within cities and complement housing stability," he said.

Experts agreed that private rental operators should be recognized as key suppliers and given institutional support.

Lee Chang-moo, a professor at Hanyang University, said more than half of Seoul residents were tenants, yet the government's latest measures had not adequately considered the impact on the jeonse and monthly rent market. "We should not treat all non-owner-occupant landlords — including those who supply rental housing — purely as speculators; we also need to look at the role they play in the market," he said.

Yoon Ji-hae, head of the research lab at Real Estate R114, said boosting supply was the single most important priority, whether through the public or private sector. "Market instability can only be resolved by mobilizing every available supply channel — redevelopment, reconstruction and new land development alike," she said.

In response, Oh said he had conveyed to Kim Yong-beom, the presidential policy chief, at a Wednesday meeting that the financial and tax framework for private rental operators needed to be made more market-friendly. "When the government announces additional measures, Seoul will do everything it can to help and will make every effort to stabilize the real estate market," he said.