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

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon criticized the government and the ruling party's push to "transfer redevelopment and reconstruction authority for complexes with 500 households or fewer to autonomous districts" as a dangerous "desk administration" today (Aug. 25).

Speaking in response to related questions after attending the "10th Korea Future Innovation Forum Seminar" hosted by People Power Party lawmaker Kim Gi-hyeon at the National Assembly Member's Office Building, Mayor Oh said, "Seoul's urban planning authority must be decided by taking a comprehensive and multidimensional approach to all potential side effects that may arise from a metropolitan perspective.

Proposals that resemble impromptu election campaigns were suddenly announced by the political circle without considering the pros and cons," he added.

He emphasized, "Maintenance projects consist of nine sequential stages, ranging from district designation, establishment of associations, review procedures, to commencement of construction. Among them, only district designation reviews and integrated reviews are handled by Seoul City, while the rest are already managed by district office heads. Claiming that transferring procedures from Seoul City to district office heads will speed things up by misleading citizens who are unaware of these facts is detached from reality."

He further stated, "After I pointed this out at a Cabinet meeting, the President also told the Prime Minister to discuss matters thoroughly with the Mayor of Seoul. However, seeing the Prime Minister 'pass' the Seoul Mayor, gather district office heads, and materialize suggestions on the spot made me think this is truly a problematic government."

"The expected side effects are clear. Seoul is a single living sphere, so if autonomous districts are made to compete, how will the disparities between districts be overcome?" he added, calling the government's behavior "truly regrettable."

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

Meanwhile, Mayor Oh also expressed concern regarding the leadership of Jang Dong-hyeok.

Regarding Representative Jang Dong-hyeok's push to re-elect all district party chapter chairpersons 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, what we need is not subtraction or division politics, but addition and multiplication politics, and leadership through integration."

Addressing the recent consecutive disciplinary decisions against incumbent lawmakers by the Ethics Committee, he also stated, "Ethics committee politics is the lowest form of politics. My hope is that we return to the opposition party's intrinsic stance of checking a rampaging administration through dialogue and integration."
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.