Land Minister Kim Yun-deok and Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon will meet on the 26th to discuss plans to supply housing using Yongsan Park. With the two sides at odds over building homes on the main Yongsan Park site, attention is turning to whether an alternative — using scattered land around the park and other substitute sites proposed by the city — can serve as a compromise.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) and other sources on the 25th, Kim and Oh will hold their second meeting at 10 a.m. on the 26th at an undisclosed location in Seoul to discuss supplying housing on part of Yongsan Park for young adults, newlyweds and others. The two held a first meeting on the 20th but ended it only confirming a clear difference in position on the core issue — whether to build homes on the main Yongsan Park site.
After that meeting, Kim told reporters that the points of contention were "the process of deliberation and discussion over supplying part of Yongsan Park as housing for young adults, newlyweds and families with multiple children, and attitudes and views on changing the law." He added, "The mayor is opposed in principle, and I am in favor."
MOLIT's position is that housing could be supplied on a limited basis not across all of Yongsan Park but on some sites where the park-and-green-space function has already been damaged or that were previously used for residential purposes. Oh, by contrast, opposes building homes on the main body of Yongsan Park, calling the site not a damaged area but "land designated to become parkland."
At a meeting on the 22nd with Rep. Kim Young-bae, head of the Democratic Party's Seoul chapter, Oh said, "I cannot give up even a single centimeter of Yongsan Park," and indicated he would seek other substitute sites where housing could be supplied — such as the Tancheon Water Recycling Center — even if it takes some time. Accordingly, attention is on whether the second meeting will produce a detailed discussion of widening the range of substitute sites to secure housing volume.
As a result, the meeting may take up the alternative the Seoul city government has proposed as a compromise — using scattered land around Yongsan Park and other substitute sites. The city favors making use of scattered sites around the park, including Camp Kim, where housing development is already under way, as well as the Armed Forces Financial Management Corps site in Itaewon, a Foreign Ministry parking lot and a Bank of Korea residence in Huam-dong.
