PPP Lawmakers on Culture Committee Visit Jongmyo, Claim Sewoon District 4 Redevelopment Will Not Obstruct Views

Lawmakers of the People Power Party (PPP) on the National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee visited the Jongmyo area today (the 15th), where the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the government are locked in a conflict over the redevelopment of Sewoon District 4.

During an independent parliamentary inspection tour conducted separately from the Democratic Party of Korea, the PPP Culture Committee members criticized the government for putting the brakes on the Sewoon District 4 redevelopment project pursued by Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, stating, "There is no end to the double standards of the Lee Jae-myung administration."

After touring Jongmyo and the Sewoon District 4 area in the afternoon with Seoul city officials, they issued a statement saying, "Today's on-site inspection revealed that the opposition from the Korea Heritage Service under the Lee Jae-myung administration was simply 'opposition for opposition's sake.'"

Emphasizing that "the core of the Jongmyo controversy is height," they noted, "Sewoon District 4 is planned to reach heights of 98.7 meters along the Jongno side and 141.9 meters along the Cheonggyecheon side. These buildings are located approximately 180 meters away from the Jongmyo wall boundary, which is outside the 100-meter standard for historical and cultural environment preservation zones."

After checking hot-air balloons floated to match the proposed building heights, they rebutted concerns over landscape damage raised by Korea Heritage Service Administrator Huh Min and Democratic Party of Korea leader Kim Min-seok during his tenure as prime minister, stating, "The balloons did not obstruct the view of Jongmyo at all."

The PPP Culture Committee members then headed to the Taereung CC development site being pushed forward by the government.

They questioned the fairness, pointing out, "Although the Taereung CC development site overlaps by as much as 13 percent with the preservation area of the royal tombs of Taereung and Gangneung, a World Heritage site, the project is being pushed forward at a breakneck speed," and asked, "Is any project by the Lee Jae-myung administration given a free pass even if it is inside a preservation area, while projects pursued by Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon are obstructed even when they are outside preservation areas?"

They further urged the Korea Heritage Service to halt the suspension of reviews regarding the heritage preservation plan for Sewoon District 4 and approve it immediately.

In addition, they demanded the withdrawal of the order to implement a heritage impact assessment and the disclosure of the grounds for applying different standards to Taereung CC and the Sewoon district.

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