Land Minister Kim Yun-duk said no plan has been discussed to build housing on the Yongsan Children's Garden site, while leaving open the possibility of supplying homes for young adults and newlyweds on damaged sections of Yongsan Park after public debate.
Asked at a National Assembly special budget committee session on the 26th whether the government intended to build housing on the Children's Garden, Kim replied, "That is not true." The question came from Cho Bae-suk, a lawmaker of the People Power Party, the main opposition party.
Kim said the government is reviewing damaged land inside Yongsan Park, not the Children's Garden. "The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's clear position is that supplying housing, limited to damaged areas within Yongsan Park, must go through a process of public debate," he said.
Kim also cautioned against reading too much into recent remarks by Ha Joon-kyung, the presidential office's senior secretary for economic growth, who suggested that visitor numbers at the Yongsan Children's Garden were not high. "Taking that remark to mean that we will build homes on the Children's Garden is an enormous stretch," Kim said. "The ministry's position is that we will open to public debate the possibility of using damaged land to supply housing to young adults and newlyweds."
