Even with All Available Sites, Seoul's New Supply Just 1,500 Units... Additional Announcement as Early as September

[Anchor]

The government unveiled measures yesterday (August 13) to accelerate housing supply, but many reactions indicate that the announced volume falls short of expectations. In particular, new housing supply in Seoul amounted to only 1,500 households, even after gathering all available sites. Mentioning Yongsan Park and greenbelts in Seoul, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport stated that it will announce additional supply candidate sites as early as the end of next month.

Our first report comes from reporter Jeon Hyeong-u.

[Reporter]

The new housing supply volume for Seoul announced yesterday stood at a mere 1,520 units, combining sites such as Yeomchang Park in Gangseo-gu and the former Airport High School site.

While the Yongsan Children's Garden was previously discussed as a candidate site, it was not included in yesterday's announcement.

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Yoon-deok stated today that looking only at the Yongsan Children's Garden is a narrow concept, and that the ministry is considering the entire Yongsan Park area.

He noted that while discussions are necessary with the National Assembly, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, and the U.S. military—including legal issues surrounding Yongsan Park—the ministry will make efforts for housing supply.

[Kim Yoon-deok / Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport : To ensure that the supply measures are not just talk or a show, but are properly implemented, a pan-governmental all-out effort is being made.]

Kim I-tak, the 1st Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the official in charge of housing policy implementation, also appeared on a radio program to emphasize the necessity of utilizing the Yongsan Park site.

[Kim I-tak / 1st Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MBC Radio 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus'): Yongsan Park is 1 million pyeong, and the Children's Garden is about 90,000 pyeong. At 3 million square meters, or 1 million pyeong, it is comparable in scale to Yeouido.]

Minister Kim also expressed a proactive stance on utilizing greenbelts, with the market discussing areas such as greenbelt zones in the Gangnam area, including Jagok-dong and Segok-dong in Gangnam-gu, and the Naegok-dong reserve forces training ground in Seocho-gu.

Regarding differences with the Seoul Metropolitan Government over Yongsan Park and greenbelt deregulation, Minister Kim stated that he will find common ground through consultations and plans to meet with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on the 20th.

However, he made it clear that greenbelt deregulation is possible even without Seoul's consent, emphasizing that the government's housing supply policy should not stall solely due to the need for consultations with the city.

Regarding the 73,000 new housing sites in the metropolitan area that were not disclosed in yesterday's supply measures, the government plans to announce them as early as the end of next month or, at the latest, early October.

Since consultations with local governments have progressed by over 80 percent for some candidate sites, the ministry plans to announce them sequentially as consultations are completed.

(Photo: Shin Jin-su | Video Editing: Kim Jin-won)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.