Seoul mayor says youth's desperation must not be used as shield for policy failures

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said the government must not use young people's desperation as a shield for policy failures, calling on authorities to identify and address what youth need most urgently.

In a post on his SNS account Friday, Oh pushed back against the government's position that rental housing should be built on part of Yongsan Park using only what it describes as already-degraded land. "That is not 'degraded land' — it is planned parkland," he wrote.

Oh said he made clear to the minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Thursday that what young people urgently need is not an opaque plan with no clear timeline, but a housing ladder they can use right now. He added that the Didimdon loan — a key mortgage program helping people buy their first home — no longer reflects actual housing prices in Seoul. "A support system disconnected from reality is as good as no system at all for young people," he added.

Oh also called for lifting regulations blocking the expansion of "Mirinaezip," a housing program for newlyweds. The program has drawn peak competition ratios of 759 to 1, he noted, yet under current rules supply is capped at no more than 50 percent of the existing long-term jeonse housing stock. "The relevant laws must be amended so that Seoul can expand supply on its own," he said.

He said it is equally urgent to resolve move-in delays at youth safe-housing units that have already been completed. "Tackling the difficulties right in front of us is the most realistic path to solving the youth housing problem," he wrote. He warned that it would be misleading to suggest young people's futures hinge on Yongsan Park when neither a ground-breaking date nor a unit count has been decided.

"There is no silver bullet for solving the youth housing problem," Oh said. "Steady, sustained supply is the only answer."

He went on to say that neither Cheong Wa Dae nor the government could be unaware that delivering housing at Yongsan Park within a short timeframe is unrealistic. "Presenting it as if it were the sole solution to youth housing looks like nothing more than a political attempt to deflect criticism of real estate policy failures," he said.

Oh said that if the government truly wants to show sincerity toward young people, it should restore a housing ladder that works now rather than pushing reckless, hollow plans.

"Bringing unreasonable lending regulations in line with reality and normalizing the jeonse and monthly rent market — that is what the government must do immediately," he said. "If the government will not listen to the voices of young people, Seoul will stand on their side and speak louder."