Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon Reaffirms Opposition to Converting Yongsan Park into Housing

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has once again clarified his opposition to plans to supply housing by utilizing Yongsan Park.

During the 339th extraordinary session of the Seoul Metropolitan Council today (the 27th), Mayor Oh responded to a question from People Power Party councilor Cha In-young by stating, "No mayor of a major metropolis anywhere in the world would agree to convert land designated for park use into residential sites just to escape a surge in real estate prices."

Mayor Oh explained, "When the Roh Moo-hyun administration held the proclamation ceremony for Yongsan Park, I did not attend in protest. I knew they had a plan to sell off part of the main site to cover relocation costs," adding, "I made it clear that unless the Yongsan Park Special Act is enacted and guarantees that the main site of Yongsan Park will not be touched under any circumstances, the Mayor of Seoul cannot agree to that master plan."

He went on to criticize, "Dismissing this as creating confrontation due to political interests is truly a petty perspective."

Mayor Oh also argued that even if housing supply were pursued in Yongsan Park, it would not yield immediate supply effects.

He stated, "Because the Yongsan Park Special Act prevents the main site from being touched, it must be changed, and the U.S. military must completely relocate, but the timeline itself is undecided," adding, "Considering detailed soil investigations and licensing, construction cannot begin under this administration."

He added, "That is why we were able to present an alternative regarding the Tancheon Water Reclamation Center, premised on residential supply 10 years down the line."

In response to Democratic Party councilor Park Yu-jin, who urged the redesignation of TBS as an affiliated institution, Mayor Oh said, "I agree," but noted, "An expression of commitment to fair broadcasting by its members must come first, and public debate is necessary regarding how to address the doubts citizens hold about its fairness."

Responding to attacks regarding missing reinforcing bars in the GTX-A Samseong Station section, he fired back, "Making it a political issue and utilizing it for elections was a problem, but halting reinforcement work for six months and delaying use for residents from northern to southern Gyeonggi Province, as well as Seoul citizens, was unnecessary."

He added, "Since the issue of responsibility will arise later and determine whether the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport or Seoul should shoulder the operational losses, we are accumulating data."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.