Seoul mayor digs in against Lee's housing plan for Yongsan Park
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has refused to allow any part of the planned 300-hectare Yongsan Park to be used for apartments, defying President Lee Jae Myung's push to build housing on the site to ease a national crisis. The standoff pits the president's slumping approval ratings against the mayor's green
SEOUL — A political showdown over green space is pitting South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who is trying to address a national housing crisis as his approval ratings slump, against Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who is pushing to create a huge park in the capital.
For Mr. Oh, the planned open area is needed to address Seoul's "greenery deficit," which requires cleanup of the 300-hectare (740-acre) site to address environmental flaws. "We remain at odds over Yongsan Park," Mr. Oh, who has led South Korea's dominant city on and off for 20 years, said in an interview. "I cannot agree under any circumstances to using it as a site for apartments."
The clash reflects a global urban policy conundrum: how megacities can manage severe housing shortages without destroying their liveability and environmental health. With 16,000 people per square kilometre (40,000 per square mile), Seoul is more densely packed than London, New York or Tokyo.
Mr. Lee's public approval has plunged in the past two months to a record low of 37 per cent, a Gallup Korea poll showed on Friday, with real estate policy the biggest driver of disapproval. Seoul apartment prices climbed for a record 86 consecutive weeks through the first week of September, according to the Korea Real Estate Board.
The sprawling park site near the Han River was set to become a public park after more than a century as a military base, first for Japanese colonial occupiers and then for the US. But in August, Mr. Lee proposed building apartment towers in part of the area and stripping protections from Seoul's greenbelt zones and suburban golf courses to increase the land available for housing. Building houses on the park site would require action by the National Assembly as the space is protected by law.
The land ministry said it would explore part of the area to "provide affordable housing for young people and future generations," stressing that the project will only move forward after establishing a public consensus. Mr. Oh is among many who blame mortgage curbs and higher taxes introduced by Mr. Lee for the housing crisis, arguing that reduced borrowing power has failed to cool demand and instead pushed up rents.
Asked why the park mattered so much to Seoul residents, Mr. Oh described the capital as "a city of water and mountains" that nonetheless thirsts for green space, with 60 per cent of citizens living in apartment buildings. He added that Seoul residents have just a fourth of the greenery that Londoners enjoy.
