Land minister says Seoul talks could add 30,000–40,000 homes, pushing total past 100,000

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Yun-deok said he aims to add 30,000 to 40,000 housing units in Seoul through talks with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, with options including releasing degraded greenbelt land and developing the Tancheon Water Reclamation Center site. The government had already announced plans to unveil an additional 73,000 units in the greater metropolitan area by year's end; the Seoul figure would come on top of that, expanding the total supply. Kim also said the ministry intends to narrow its differences with the city over using already-developed parcels inside Yongsan Park — including the Defense Acquisition Program Administration site, officer housing, and hospital and school grounds — for youth housing.

Kim made the remarks Thursday morning on CBS Radio's "Park Sung-tae's News Show," saying, "The reality is that Seoul was not included in the volume announced in the Aug. 13 measures."

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said that if talks with Seoul over greenbelt releases and the Yongsan Park site proceed smoothly, it can secure additional supply in key parts of the city. Beyond the 27,000-unit new public housing districts included in the Aug. 13 package — covering the Gangseo district in Seoul, the Namyangju urban district in Gyeonggi Province, and the Gwangju transit-oriented zone 2 in Gyeonggi Province — the government plans to announce the remaining units of its 73,000-plus target in stages this year. Because the 73,000 units are concentrated in Gyeonggi Province, the ministry plans to add 30,000 to 40,000 Seoul units on top, bringing the combined total to more than 103,000 units.

"Supplying housing in areas of Gyeonggi Province adjacent to Seoul is very important, but the idea is to reduce, as much as possible, the trend of young people being pushed further out to the outskirts of Seoul and Gyeonggi Province," Kim said.

For the ministry's Seoul supply plans to become reality, however, the two sides must first resolve their differences on the scale of the Yongsan International Business District, housing supply within Yongsan Park, and greenbelt releases. Kim said his meeting with Mayor Oh on Wednesday produced significant progress on those issues.

"We shared a great deal of our thinking — the mayor's and mine," Kim said. "I made clear that the intention is not to develop all of Yongsan Park, and the mayor, rather than insisting the park must be preserved unconditionally, spoke about its function as green space and its historical significance."

Kim went on to stress the ministry's position that housing can be built without undermining the park's original purpose by using spaces that are already developed — the DAPA site, officer housing, and hospital and school grounds within Yongsan Park.

"The ministry's thinking is that if Yongsan Park is restructured and properly organized so it can function as it was originally intended, wouldn't it be possible to use it far more effectively?" Kim said. "We will also go through a public deliberation process on eligibility conditions — who would be entitled to live there — as well as the sites themselves."

On the Tancheon Water Reclamation Center, which Mayor Oh proposed Wednesday as an alternative to Yongsan Park, Kim expressed a broadly positive reaction while also flagging practical challenges, including the time and procedural steps required to relocate the facility and prepare the land.

"I told the mayor that the harder part is not deciding to move the Tancheon Water Reclamation Center — it's finding a relocation site, and he broadly agreed with me," Kim said. "Whether housing can be built there and at what scale will have to be worked out through further consultations, including on the relocation question."

Kim again noted that Mayor Oh had signaled a positive stance on greenbelt releases. "The mayor took a very forward-looking position on the greenbelt issue," Kim said. "The idea is not to build on green land — there are many areas with greenhouses and the like — so I think the city will consider and prepare a list of sites in Seoul where supply is possible."

The Seoul Metropolitan Government, however, is holding firm to its position that any review of greenbelt releases must be conditional on the government dropping its plan to develop housing inside Yongsan Park, making a full agreement difficult. When Kim posted on his Facebook page Wednesday welcoming "Seoul's forward-looking review of the greenbelt," the city issued a statement clarifying that its willingness to consider greenbelt releases was premised on the withdrawal of the plan to supply housing within Yongsan Park, and applied only to already-degraded greenbelt areas with low conservation value.

With the two sides still apart, Kim and Mayor Oh are scheduled to meet again next week to discuss specific site options. "The reality is that the ministry has no choice but to consult with metropolitan and local governments on housing supply, so the idea that the ministry is 'trying to do things its own way' is simply a misunderstanding," Kim said. "We will meet next week, and we will think through what needs to be thought through — including the Tancheon Water Reclamation Center — and discuss it."