Government Pushes for Youth Rental Housing in Yongsan Park... Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon Opposes, Saying 'It Belongs to Future Generations'

[Anchor]

The government is pushing to supply youth rental housing at the Yongsan Children's Garden. To build homes there, the Special Act on Yongsan Park must first be amended, and the Democratic Party is considering passing this amendment bill in the National Assembly tomorrow (the 20th).

Reporter Park Yerim.

[Reporter]

The 3-million-square-meter Yongsan Park site located in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

Once a U.S. military base, it is comparable in size to Yeouido in Seoul.

Among this area, the Yongsan Children's Garden, spanning 300,000 square meters or 10 percent of the total located to the left of the National Museum of Korea, was opened to the public in 2023.

The government is pushing a plan to supply youth rental housing on this site.

It is projected that up to 20,000 units could be supplied if the floor area ratio is increased and designs focus on small-sized housing units.

On the 14th, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Yoon-duck stated, "Our resolve to overcome challenges such as consultations with the U.S. military and the purification of contaminated soil to build homes is clear," mentioning not only the Children's Garden but the entire Yongsan Park site as a candidate for housing supply.

Some analyze that because the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the opposition party oppose the development of Yongsan Park, the government is attempting to break through the opposition logic under the banner of "resolving youth housing instability."

A Cheong Wa Dae official stated, "The government has conveyed its stance to the Seoul Seoul Metropolitan Government multiple times regarding the necessity of supplying housing on park sites."

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who attended the Cabinet meeting, wrote on social media that he expressed his opposition at the meeting, stating, "We must not deplete even the share of future generations just because housing supply is needed immediately."

[Oh Se-hoon / Seoul Mayor : Putting apartments into Yongsan Park even to the extent of amending the special act cannot be a policy that a single administration can choose based on momentary needs.]

During the Cabinet meeting, President Lee Jae-myung asked Mayor Oh if there were any regulatory relaxation measures to increase private supply.

[Kang Yu-jung / Senior Spokesperson for Cheong Wa Dae : (President Lee) meticulously checked whether the authority for permits and approvals for large-scale redevelopment and reconstruction maintenance projects, as well as small-scale individual construction, lies with the district office or the city....]

When Mayor Oh replied that it would involve easing floor area ratio regulations and the mandatory rental housing ratio, President Lee stated that the goal is to increase supply without heightening the possibility of skyrocketing housing prices, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
(Reported by Jung Sang-bo and Ha Ryung | Video by Nam Il | Graphics by Han Hung-soo and Kim Ye-ji)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.