What Is the Yongsan Park Special Act? DP Considering Passage on the 20th

[Anchor]

To supply housing in Yongsan Park, the special act enacted in 2007 must first be revised. The current law prohibits changing the land use for purposes other than a park. The Democratic Party is considering pushing for the passage of this special act amendment at the National Assembly the day after tomorrow (the 20th).

Reporter Park Jae-yeon breaks down what the special act entails and what the amendment contains.

[Reporter]

The Yongsan Park Creation Special Act was enacted in 2007 under the Roh Moo-hyun administration to develop the Yongsan site returned by U.S. Forces Korea into a national park under state responsibility.

The special act explicitly stipulates that the entire main site shall be created as Yongsan Park in principle, and that it must not be changed in use for purposes other than a park or disposed of through sales.

However, President Lee Jae-myung pledged during the 2022 presidential election to supply 100,000 units of basic housing for young adults on parts of Yongsan Park and its surrounding sites.

This is the special act amendment proposed last March by Democratic Party lawmaker Bok Ki-wang and others.

It states that flexible and relaxed standards can be applied instead of rigid park or green space standards for complex development districts such as Camp Kim.

This aims to pave the way for reducing green spaces to supply housing.

An official from the Democratic Party leadership said, "The situation, including the importance of housing supply in Seoul, is completely different from 2007 when the plan was strictly for a park," adding, "Some sites need to be developed for real housing demanders."

The Democratic Party passed this special act amendment through the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly last May, and is considering bringing it to the plenary session the day after tomorrow.

[Huan Byung-do / Democratic Party Floor Leader: What is most urgent in this plenary session is legislation to support housing supply.]

However, analysts note that even if this amendment passes, there is still a long way to go before actual land-use conversion and housing supply can take place.

The government maintains the position that the revision of provisions blocking the use of the main site for purposes other than a park must also precede.

In addition, since the authority to build infrastructure such as roads and water and sewage systems lies with the Seoul Metropolitan Government, consultations and cooperation between the government and Seoul are essential.

Tomorrow, the Democratic Party and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will hold a party-government consultation, and the day after tomorrow, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Yun-deok and Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hun will meet to discuss the matter.

(Video Shooting: Oh Young-chun, Kim Yong-woo | Video Editing: Jeon Min-gyu | Design: Lee Jong-jung, Ryu Sang-su)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.