Oh Se-hoon Criticizes Transfer of Redevelopment Authority to Autonomous Districts as Dangerous "Desk Administration"

▲ Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has criticized the push by the government and the ruling party to "transfer the authority over redevelopment and reconstruction projects for complexes with 500 households or fewer to autonomous districts," calling it a dangerous piece of desk administration.

Speaking to reporters after attending the 10th Korea Future Innovation Forum seminar hosted by People Power Party lawmaker Kim Gi-hyeon at the National Assembly Members' Office Building today (Aug. 25), Mayor Oh responded to related questions by saying, "Seoul's urban planning authority must be decided by taking into a comprehensive and three-dimensional account all potential side effects under a metropolitan-wide effort. A proposal resembling an impromptu election campaign was suddenly announced by the political circle without considering the pros and cons."

Mayor Oh emphasized, "Maintenance projects consist of nine sequential steps ranging from district designation, establishment of associations, review procedures, to the start of construction. Among them, only the district designation review and integrated review belong to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, while the rest are already handled by district office heads. Claiming that transferring procedures from Seoul to district heads will speed things up—misleading citizens who are unaware of these facts—is divorced from reality."

He added, "After I pointed these issues out at a Cabinet meeting, the President told the Prime Minister to discuss the matter thoroughly with the Seoul Mayor. However, seeing the Prime Minister 'pass' the Seoul Mayor, gather district heads, receive suggestions on the spot, and materialize them made me think this is truly a problematic administration."

"The anticipated side effects are clear. Seoul is a single living zone; if autonomous districts are made to compete against one another, how will we overcome the disparities between them?" he added, calling the administration's behavior deplorable.

Regarding the government's push to supply housing utilizing Yongsan Park, Mayor Oh proposed the Tancheon Water Reclamation Center site as an alternative, stating, "It has a larger capacity (than Yongsan Park) and offers a better residential environment, including transportation. This is not a hastily put-together alternative. If the government helps, it can be built quickly. I hope the approach toward Yongsan Park will be withdrawn and this alternative will be discussed in depth."

Meanwhile, Mayor Oh also expressed concerns regarding the leadership under Jang Dong-hyeok.

Regarding Representative Jang Dong-hyeok's push to re-elect all local party chapter heads through a direct vote by party members, Mayor Oh pointed out, "At a time when the Lee Jae-myung administration is running amok on real estate issues and its approval ratings are plunging, we need politics of addition and multiplication and leadership through integration, rather than politics of subtraction and division."

Regarding the recent series of disciplinary decisions issued against incumbent lawmakers by the Ethics Committee, Mayor Oh stated, "Ethics committee politics is the lowest form of politics. It is my hope that we return to the opposition party's fundamental stance of checking the runaway administration through dialogue and integration."

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