▲ Rep. Kim Young-bae, head of the Democratic Party of Korea's Seoul Metropolitan Chapter, holds a background briefing at the National Assembly Communication Hall on August 22 after a meeting with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon.
The Seoul Metropolitan Chapter of the Democratic Party of Korea held a party-government consultative meeting with district heads belonging to the party from Seoul at the Seoul chapter office in Yeouido today (the 27th), discussing measures to resolve the real estate issue, which is a top pending agenda item.
Lawmakers, including Seoul Chapter Chairman Rep. Kim Young-bae, and district heads reportedly gathered opinions focusing mainly on prompt supply measures.
In his opening remarks at the meeting, Rep. Kim said, "Over the past 15 years, Seoul's population has decreased by 1 million, from 10.3 million to 9.3 million, while the proportion of single- and two-person households has exceeded 67%." He added, "It is time to make proper urban plans, including solving the housing difficulties of the younger generation."
He then emphasized, "At this point, the two principles of housing supply are 'affordability' and 'as fast as possible.'"
Rep. Kim stated, "We should also discuss transferring the excessively concentrated urban planning authority held by the mayor of Seoul over small-scale maintenance projects and regional development involving 500 or fewer households, or 300 or fewer households, to autonomous districts," adding, "Let us also review the current status of housing sites that can be supplied in a short period of time."
Rep. Kim expressed negative views on Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's proposal made yesterday to Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Yoon-duck to create a "southeastern youth-specialized industrial complex" including a youth housing complex on the site of the Tancheon Water Reclamation Center in Gangnam-gu.
Rep. Kim pointed out, "Only fanciful political claims that may or may not be implementable 10 years from now are running rampant," criticizing it as "opposition for the sake of opposition."
This was a criticism of Mayor Oh, who has maintained his stance of refusing to accept the government and ruling party's plan to utilize Yongsan Park for housing supply.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party indicated that it could cooperate with Mayor Oh if a consensus is formed on housing supply.
Rep. Oh Gi-hyeong said, "In the case of the jeonse and wolse [lease] crises or housing supply issues, if there is anything appropriate raised by Mayor Oh, we intend to actively accept and resolve it," adding, "If there are places where (supply regulations) can be lifted immediately from the citizens' perspective, we should actively discuss alternatives."
Rep. Oh said, "Construction starts and approvals were drastically reduced from 2022 to 2024, leading to a projected supply shortage for two to three years starting in 2026, of which 10% is public and 90% is private," adding, "Basically, supply should be led by the private sector."
He further noted, "Shouldn't we also find things that the public sector can do with a sense of speed?" and added, "It was said that the private sector is the absolute commissioner, but hasn't the role of the public sector been largely neglected?"
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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