Oh Se-hoon Asks if Government's Real Real Estate Policy Goal Is to 'Weaken' Seoul Mayor

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon claimed that the government, which had previously promised to actively review his proposal to supply youth housing on the Tancheon Water Reclamation Center site, has suddenly turned lukewarm and is trying to "weaken" his political standing.

In a post shared on Facebook, Mayor Oh pointed out, "The government, which said it would actively review the housing supply proposal for the Tancheon Water Reclamation Center, has suddenly shown a lukewarm attitude. The Democratic Party has taken this as an opportunity to attack, claiming it 'lacks effectiveness.'"

He criticized, "Does it make sense logically to say that the Yongsan Park project—where it is difficult to even predict when construction can begin due to issues like the return of the site, soil purification, and traffic measures—is possible, but the Tancheon Water Reclamation Center, where reviews for relocation are already underway, is ineffective and therefore impossible? It would be more convincing if they simply said, 'Because it's an alternative proposed by Oh Se-hoon, it's not allowed.'"

Regarding the housing supply proposal for the Tancheon Water Reclamation Center, Mayor Oh explained, "Considerable time is needed until actual construction begins. However, reviews for relocation are already underway."

He added, "If the government and the Seoul city government join forces and accelerate the process, it could be a much better alternative in terms of feasibility, speed, and location conditions compared to Yongsan Park, which has many hurdles to overcome such as site return, soil purification, and traffic measures."

Mayor Oh emphasized, "In fact, definitive supply solutions are already underway across Seoul, to the extent that we wouldn't even need to propose the Tancheon Water Reclamation Center site as an alternative. That solution is redevelopment and reconstruction."

He further explained, "If the government properly supports Seoul's urban maintenance projects without obstructing them, it is possible to begin construction on 310,000 households by 2031. Furthermore, the net increase in housing units, currently projected at 87,000, would increase to about 130,000 if the government relaxes the floor area ratio for redevelopment up to 1.2 times the legal limit."

"However, the response from the government and the ruling party has been completely the opposite," Mayor Oh criticized, adding, "Instead of supporting Seoul's maintenance projects, they are planning to strip Seoul city of its authority over maintenance projects involving 500 units or less and hand it over to autonomous districts."

He also pointed out, "Autonomous districts already hold a significant portion of the major licensing and permit authorities for maintenance projects. Forcibly stripping away authority that is not even the cause of supply delays and packaging it as 'rapid supply' is an irresponsible idea that encourages haphazard development and shakes Seoul's urban planning system."

He continued, "It is hard to explain this in any other way than as a political objective to bypass Seoul city and weaken the authority of the Seoul mayor. As Seoul mayor, I even feel a sense of self-reproach, driven by the fact that the desperate reality faced by citizens is being pushed to the back burner, overshadowed by such political battles."

Mayor Oh sharpened his tone, stating, "I want to believe that the government's real estate policy goal is not truly to 'weaken Oh Se-hoon.' If the essence of 'rapid supply' completely disappears and only attempts to attack political rivals and neutralize Seoul city's authority remain, the citizens will never forgive it."

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