Vice Minister Kim Itak of the Ministry of Land Says "73,000 New Housing Sites May Be Announced as Early as This Month"

Follow-up Measures to the August 13 Rapid Housing Supply Plan

"New Housing Sites to Be Announced in August or September, No Later Than October"

Greenbelt Release Requires Consultation with Seoul Metropolitan Government

Regarding the government's plan to select additional new public housing districts with a capacity of '73,000 housing units plus α', thereby supplying a total of 100,000 units in the Seoul metropolitan area, the authorities have decided to release the list of candidate sites as early as this month. This move is aimed at completing discussions with local governments such as Seoul as soon as possible, in order to continuously send signals to the market regarding housing supply.

On August 14, Kim Itak, First Vice Minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, appeared on MBC Radio's "Kim Jongbae's Focus" and stated, "We plan to announce the sites as early as August or September, and at the latest by October," adding, "We will move forward as quickly as possible."

Kim Itak, First Vice Minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The Asia Business Daily DB

Vice Minister Kim explained the reason why not all of the locations for the planned 73,000-unit supply were disclosed in the previous day's announcement of the 'Rapid Housing Supply Plan' by saying, "It takes some time to prepare the necessary documentation and complete administrative procedures." He further explained, "For the documentation, in order to allow residents to inspect it, we must create a separate record for each land parcel. Each parcel pertains to individual property rights, and if even one is omitted, it could lead to litigation in the future."

When asked whether there is additional land available for more housing supply, Vice Minister Kim mentioned plans involving the release of land from the greenbelt. He said, "We've gathered every available parcel of land, and we believe we can gather even more (remaining land)," adding, "The remaining land could include greenbelt zones, as well as housing and public idle facilities and sites within cities, which could be utilized through consultations with local governments." He also stated, "The release of some greenbelt zones is inevitable for housing supply," and added, "Damaged sites should be provided to future generations of young people."

However, he indicated that further consultations would be needed with the Seoul Metropolitan Government regarding the release of greenbelt zones. Vice Minister Kim said, "I believe it is essential to have sufficient discussions with the Mayor of Seoul regarding the Seoul greenbelt." After the announcement of the government's supply measures the previous day, the Seoul Metropolitan Government had issued a press release stating, "In principle, the release of greenbelt land is hardly acceptable."

Yeomchang Park site area, Gangseo-gu, Seoul. The government has decided to designate it as a new public housing district with a scale of 1,000 households. Photo by Yonhap News

Vice Minister Kim also mentioned the difficulty in negotiations with the city as the reason why, among the 100,000 new housing units, only the Yeomchang Park site in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, was included. He said, "So far, we believe further discussions are necessary," and continued, "The Seoul Metropolitan Government is also committed to housing supply, so if negotiations proceed, we expect additional supply volumes can be realized."

Additionally, Vice Minister Kim explained that if the amendment to the Housing Act passes, there could be an additional supply effect of up to 50,000 housing units through regional housing cooperatives. The amendment, proposed by Min Byeongdeok from the Democratic Party of Korea, would reduce the requirement for land ownership by cooperatives at the business plan approval stage from the current 95% to 80%. Vice Minister Kim noted, "The proposed amendment to the Housing Act, which includes deregulation measures for regional housing cooperatives, has yet to be put to a plenary session and has not passed," and added, "If the regional housing cooperatives provision passes, a supply of around 50,000 units could be accelerated. I hope the bill will pass quickly."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.