Oh Se-hoon calls Yongsan Park development plan illegal, blames government policy for rising home prices

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said Thursday that the government's plan to build youth housing on part of the Yongsan Park site violates a special law and that it is his duty as mayor to convey Seoul residents' opposition.

On the simultaneous rise in jeonse, monthly rent and home purchase prices — a so-called triple surge — Oh said the government had failed to give the public confidence in housing supply and called for deregulation.

Oh made the remarks at a national audit of the Seoul Metropolitan Government conducted by the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee at Seoul City Hall on Thursday, responding to questions from People Power Party lawmaker Joo Ho-young. Joo had asked Oh about plans to preserve Yongsan Park, the possible use of the Tancheon Water Reclamation Center site as an alternative housing supply location, and the current status of those efforts.

Oh said the government's plan to develop apartments on the main Yongsan Park site — particularly on land formerly used for officers' quarters and military apartment buildings — "directly contravenes the Special Act on Yongsan Park." He added that a poll conducted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government found that nearly half of Seoul residents oppose development of the park.

Oh also said he planned to meet soon with Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Hong Ji-seon, saying he intended to "emphasize this point clearly to the new minister and discuss it with her."

He said that even if the Yongsan Park site were used, "there are multiple obstacles that make it impossible to even break ground within this administration's term," noting that soil contamination would require a minimum of three to four years — and possibly six to seven years — to remediate.

Oh added that the Tancheon site was conceived as a long-term plan looking a decade ahead, and that "whether the Tancheon site or a sewage treatment plant site is used, apartments could be supplied at around the same time as they could be from Yongsan Park."

Joo said it took 120 years to restore Yongsan and that once land is damaged, a similar span of time may be needed to make it usable again. "Beyond the historical and symbolic significance of Yongsan Park, the Seoul Metropolitan Government must protect that land from harm — for the sake of future generations and without regret," he said.

Turning to rising home prices in the greater Seoul area, Oh said the government had failed to earn public trust in its housing supply commitments.

"The key question is whether residents can predict and feel confident about housing supply," Oh said. "Because Seoul residents lack that confidence, speculative demand emerges — people feel they must buy before prices rise further — and I see that as the single biggest driver of home price increases."

Oh also said the current government's emphasis on owner-occupancy was pushing up apartment prices in outer Seoul. "Because of the current government's policy stressing owner-occupancy, jeonse and monthly rent are rising steeply," he said. "To make matters worse, jeonse supply itself has dried up, so residents are being pushed toward buying."

Oh also agreed with People Power Party lawmaker Seo Myeong-ok's assertion that the cancellation of new-town redevelopment zones under former Mayor Park Won-soon had contributed to the current housing supply shortage.

"Units that would have been supplied in steady increments of tens of thousands each year were wiped out all at once at that time, and that inevitably ripples forward five, ten, fifteen years from now," Oh said.

He said Seoul has limited available land, making redevelopment, reconstruction and the Moataun cluster-redevelopment scheme "the three pillars of virtually all new housing supply." He called for easing restrictions on the transfer of association membership status and expanding relocation cost support as ways to accelerate supply.

"If the restriction on transferring association membership status were lifted temporarily — just for three years — conflicts within associations would decrease significantly and supply could pick up speed," Oh said. "That is how the government can help Seoul."

Oh also called for expanded tax and financial support for private rental housing operators.

"Private rental operators supplying rental housing helps stabilize the jeonse and monthly rent market," he said. "In a situation where jeonse and monthly rent are rising this steeply, tax and financial benefits for private rental operators need to be dramatically increased."

"Creating a policy environment that encourages these operators to enter the youth rental housing market and other rental segments is something the government must do — and it has been sorely lacking on this front," Oh said.