Thirty-eight People Power Party members of the Seoul Metropolitan Council have strongly urged the government to immediately scrap its plan to build housing in Yongsan Park.
The PPP council members gathered Tuesday afternoon on the steps outside the council's main building alongside more than 50 Yongsan-gu residents to read an emergency resolution.
Kim Gil-young, the PPP's floor leader on the council representing Gangnam District 6, opened the statement by saying the group had taken the floor "with a heavy sense of responsibility and firm resolve" ahead of the 339th extraordinary session. "The government has repeatedly changed its policies and tightened regulations in the name of curbing housing prices, but it has lost the market's trust, and citizens' dream of owning a home is slipping further away," Kim said. "Housing policy is not about ideology — it is about reality. The government must listen to the voices of citizens and the market. Policies that ignore what is happening on the ground will ultimately come back as suffering for the people."
Choe Yu-hui, who represents Yongsan District 2 — the constituency that includes Seobinggo-dong, where Yongsan Park is located — said making the park a "sacrificial lamb" for real estate policy amounted to "ruthlessly stripping future generations of their rights and assets." "Who was it that pledged to turn Yongsan Park into Korea's Central Park?" Choe said. "The president must apologize for breaking that promise and deceiving the public, and immediately withdraw the plan to build housing in Yongsan Park."
Choe Won-seon, a proportional-representation member serving as the PPP caucus's public affairs representative and spokesperson, said the group would "fulfill its duty as the ruling party by rigorously scrutinizing the government's flawed housing policies on behalf of citizens and offering realistic alternatives to stabilize housing for Seoul residents." "The strength of legislative work comes not from numbers but from the trust of the people," Choe said.
Choe added that on July 7, all 38 PPP members unanimously submitted two bills to the 12th Seoul Metropolitan Council: the first calling for expanded housing supply and the normalization of urban renewal projects in Seoul, and the second urging the construction of a new transit network to drive transportation infrastructure innovation.
Choe Jong-bu, another proportional-representation member also serving as public affairs representative and spokesperson, closed the event by calling on the council to work constructively rather than simply obstruct the Seoul mayor at every turn. "As a responsible party preparing for Seoul's future, we will keep a balanced check on both the city government and the central government, offer better alternatives, and turn the current difficulties into new hope," Choe said.
The council members and Yongsan residents then held up placards reading "The market is the answer" and "Listen to the voices of citizens and the market," chanting calls for the government to withdraw its Yongsan Park housing supply plan.
ikson@heraldcorp.com
