[2026 Parliamentary Audit] Oh Sehoon: "Park Wonsoon Administration Mostly Canceled Redevelopment Projects in Northern Seoul"

"430,000 housing units planned for the next five to 15 years disappeared"
"About 70% of the projects completed under Park Wonsoon
were permitted during Oh Sehoon's first term as mayor"

Seoul Mayor Oh Sehoon said on the 19th that “389 redevelopment and reconstruction areas were all unjustifiably canceled during former Mayor Park Won-soon’s tenure,” adding that “most of the areas were in northern Seoul.”

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon speaks at a National Assembly audit of the Seoul Metropolitan Government by the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee at Seoul City Hall on the 19th. Yonhap News Agency.

At a parliamentary audit of the Seoul Metropolitan Government by the National Assembly’s Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee at Seoul City Hall that morning, Oh responded to criticism that new housing had increased in Gangnam but decreased elsewhere in Seoul. He said, “During former Mayor Park’s tenure, 430,000 housing units that would have been supplied over a period of five to 15 years disappeared all at once.”

Oh said, “We have confirmed that around 70% of the sites completed during former Mayor Park’s tenure received permits during my first term as mayor,” adding, “The side effects that emerged during my second term were the result of the effects that had accumulated in stages since former Mayor Park’s tenure.”

He continued, “Redevelopment and reconstruction projects take between 12 and 21 years, from the short to the long term. Just as the seeds were sown and the stems were beginning to grow, former Mayor Park pulled out the roots and even sprayed herbicide before leaving. I have worked the fields again and sown seeds, and now the stems are just beginning to emerge.”

Oh concluded, “The government should provide fertilizer and help pull weeds from the redevelopment and reconstruction projects currently underway,” adding, “I hope the National Assembly will also offer substantial support.”

Meanwhile, regarding Seoul’s lifting of land transaction permit zones in February 2025, Oh said, “It was claimed that the restrictions were lifted when the real estate market was on an upward trend, but that criticism was clearly incorrect. At the time, major banks and government agencies issued research reports saying the housing market was excessively depressed and that action was needed.”

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