The People Power Party caucus of the Seoul Metropolitan Council has come out against the government's plan to consider the entire Yongsan Park site as a candidate for housing supply, joining the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Yongsan-gu in their opposition.
The PPP caucus issued a statement Tuesday under the name of spokesperson Choi Won-seon, expressing "deep concern" and calling on the government to conduct a full review.
"The reason New York's Central Park and London's Hyde Park have become symbols of pride for world-class cities is that they protected their green spaces to the end — for the future of the city and its people," Choi said. "Yongsan Park is the last large-scale green space remaining in the heart of Seoul, an irreplaceable core asset that must be handed down to future generations."
Choi said there was no disagreement on the need to resolve Seoul's housing shortage and supply enough homes where residents want them, but added that demolishing a national park to build apartments could not be the right policy alternative.
The spokesperson also cited the Special Act on the Creation of Yongsan Park, enacted during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, which explicitly prohibits changing the use of the entire Yongsan Park site for non-park purposes or disposing of it through sale or other means.
"Yongsan Park was a national promise — to protect it from development pressure regardless of which administration was in power or how real estate market conditions changed, and to return it to the people and future generations," Choi said. "Yet nearly 20 years later, the government is now trying to reverse that principle on its own, citing housing supply as the reason."
Choi said the government's stated justification was the urgency of housing supply, but noted that projections suggest breaking ground on Yongsan Park could take nearly 10 years, given the need to amend the special act and revise the development plan. "Seoul residents are struggling right now with home prices and jeonse and monthly rent burdens. Presenting a project that will take this long as an urgent solution is a contradiction in terms," Choi said.
Choi added that the government should explain why it was reaching for the slowest and hardest-to-reverse option first, when tools already in motion — such as normalizing reconstruction and redevelopment projects — could gain momentum immediately once regulations were eased.
Choi also raised concerns about the importance of urban green space and procedural issues. "Large-scale green spaces in the city center are essential infrastructure in an era of climate crisis. As this summer's unprecedented heat wave has shown, Yongsan Park is a key environmental asset that eases the urban heat island effect and gives citizens room to breathe," Choi said. "Once housing and roads go in, restoring the area to a natural park is virtually impossible." The remarks echoed a Facebook post Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon made the same day.
The controversy began after Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Kim Yun-deok, at a press briefing marking his first anniversary in office on Friday, was asked about plans to use the Yongsan Children's Garden for housing and replied that the government was "thinking about the entirety of Yongsan Park, not just the narrower concept of the Children's Garden." The Seoul Metropolitan Government and Yongsan-gu each subsequently issued statements expressing concern and opposition to building housing on the urban green space.
ken@heraldcorp.com
