Seocho-gu Council Demands Halt to Data Center Plan Just 80 Meters From Homes and Schools!

The Seocho-gu Council has adopted a resolution calling for the withdrawal of a plan to build a data center in the Gwacheon Juam district, formally demanding that the relevant authorities scrap the project entirely and revise the district unit plan.

The council passed the measure unanimously at the first plenary session of its 352nd regular session on Monday. As anxiety among residents mounted, three council members representing the Ma electoral district — which borders the project site and covers Yangjae 1-dong, Yangjae 2-dong and Naegok-dong — jointly sponsored the resolution: Kim Hae-bareun, An Jong-suk and Jo Hui-ok.

According to the resolution, the planned construction site (blocks 1-1 through 1-9 of the Gwacheon Juam district) falls within Gwacheon city limits on paper but sits just 80 meters from residential complexes and schools in Umyeon-dong, Seocho-gu. The council said that even though the project is technically under another municipality's jurisdiction, Seocho residents would bear the full brunt of any harm from a massive factory-scale structure going up next door.

A central concern is that data centers must run around the clock, meaning large cooling towers and ventilation systems would generate constant noise and vibration that nearby residents could not escape. The council added that underground high-voltage lines would expose the area to electromagnetic fields, posing a serious threat to children's health and residents' right to sleep. Further risks cited include the danger of fires and other disasters from large-scale ESS installations, as well as disruption to the Yangjae Stream ecosystem and broader damage to the quality of life in the area.

The council sharply criticized what it described as a complete disregard for the consent and trust of residents directly affected by the development, saying any such policy must be grounded in community acceptance. It issued three firm demands.

First, the council called on Korea Land and Housing Corporation to immediately withdraw its plan to build a data center within the Gwacheon Juam district, citing the threat to the residential environment and livelihoods of Umyeon-dong residents. Second, it urged the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to revise the district unit plan to exclude data centers entirely from the permitted uses of office facility zones.

Third, it called on Korea Electric Power Corporation to acknowledge the electromagnetic exposure risks posed to the densely populated residential and childcare areas nearby and to suspend all procedures related to power supply and grid interconnection for the project.

The council also asked Gwacheon city and the Gwacheon City Council to take the vital concerns of neighboring Seocho-gu residents seriously and cooperate in withdrawing the project. It urged the Seocho-gu district office to consolidate residents' views and do everything in its power to block the data center's construction through consultations with relevant agencies and across all administrative procedures.

Kim Hae-bareun, the lead sponsor of the resolution, said the situation could no longer be ignored. "We cannot stand by while residents of a neighboring district are forced to suffer real harm simply because an administrative boundary happens to run between them and the project," Kim said. "The council will keep acting until the relevant ministries take measures that the community can accept, in order to protect residents' safe and peaceful daily lives."

The council said it would promptly deliver the adopted resolution to the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Minister of Interior and Safety, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and Gwacheon city and its council.

It also reiterated its call to the Seocho-gu district office to unite residents behind a common position and spare no effort to block the facility's construction through agency consultations and all related administrative processes.