Creepy Eyesore in Prime Urban Area... "The Law Is Like That," Leaving No Good Solutions

A school route surrounded by rusted iron fences.

Children dangerously walk past them.

Banners declaring the exercise of lien rights are hung everywhere, and the long-abandoned land is overgrown with weeds.

Approval for a new apartment project here was granted in 2022, but to this day, not even a single shovel has been turned, leaving it abandoned as an eyesore in the city center.

As rainwater accumulated for years, even a large puddle was formed.

The water is filled with various bugs and emits a heavy stench.

[Parent: My child is a 3rd grader, and it has been like this since 1st grader. Water seems to be pooling, and it looks quite dangerous.]

An 8,200-square-meter plot of land sits idle in Beomeo-dong, known as prime real estate in Daegu, right in the middle of a forest of high-rise apartments.

This is because construction on the mixed-use residential and commercial apartments has been delayed indefinitely.

[Nearby Merchant: Actually, I think it has to be developed somehow, so leaving it neglected is obviously wrong.]

There are 66 uncommenced housing construction project sites within the Daegu region.

Fifty-seven of them have been stalled for over two years, and among these, 12 have been stalled for five years or more.

In most cases, issues have arisen with construction companies securing funding due to the economic downturn.

The problem is that, unlike construction sites where work has already begun, sites where construction has not even started lack legal grounds, limiting local government intervention.

[District Office Official: Since construction hasn't legally started yet, we are reviewing related laws, but it seems there is nothing we can mandate.]

This is why voices are rising that grounds should be established for local governments to take direct action, even if it is private property, when factors undermining public interest arise.

[Kim Kyung-min / Daegu Suseong-gu Council Member: Actually, because it is a dispute within private property, there isn't much room for the authorities to step in. So we are reviewing whether we can resolve these issues through an ordinance and are actually preparing to enact one.]

Dozens of uncommenced sites left neglected for years amid poor management are triggering not only safety issues but also urban hollowing out.

Reported by Park Ga-young (TBC), Produced by Lee Seyoung, Video by Lee Jung-woo, Design by Kim Se-yoon, Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.