Seoul City: "Don't Demonize Private Redevelopment"... Rebuts President Lee Jae Myung's Remarks

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon presides over a meeting on "Seoul Without Loneliness Season 2" at Seoul City Hall on the 30th of last month. Yonhap News Agency

After President Lee Jae Myung recently emphasized revitalizing public-led redevelopment and pointed to the potential for corruption in privately led redevelopment, the Seoul Metropolitan Government countered that "approaching privately led redevelopment as if it were inherently wrong will not help expand housing supply."

In a press reference statement issued on Nov. 5, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said, "The government should actively pursue regulatory improvements and support project feasibility to ensure privately led redevelopment is not stifled, as it accounts for about 90% of the planned redevelopment volume in Seoul."

The previous day, President Lee visited a public-led redevelopment site in Jangwi-dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, and said, "When the public sector carries out redevelopment, it can move faster and reduce the potential for corruption, but there are still many efforts to keep it privately led." He added, "This is all because of so-called corruption."

In response, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said, "Even for projects led by private entities, the public sector operates a system that sets standards and corrects illegal conduct." It added, "To prevent corruption, we should focus on improving the effectiveness of management and oversight rather than arguing over which type of project operator is superior."

The Seoul Metropolitan Government also explained that public-led redevelopment is not necessarily faster or guaranteed to be financially viable.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said, "When the government introduced public-led redevelopment in 2020, it announced that it would shorten project timelines from more than 10 years to five years. However, six years later, there are still no confirmed cases of construction starting on public-led redevelopment projects in Seoul." It also noted that "the benefit of exemption from the price ceiling on presale housing, which had been cited as an advantage of public-led redevelopment, has become less distinctive in most areas since 2023, when the areas subject to the price ceiling on presale housing on privately owned land were narrowed to the three Gangnam districts and Yongsan-gu."

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, three sites designated as candidates for public-led redevelopment were canceled due to resident opposition and concerns about project feasibility, among other reasons. Some areas that had considered the public-led approach are also shifting to privately led redevelopment.

Regarding Jangwi New Town, which President Lee visited the previous day, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said, "During Park Won-soon's tenure as mayor of Seoul, the city moved to unilaterally lift the designation of redevelopment zones in Jangwi New Town based on support from fewer than half of the residents, and residents who opposed the excessive administrative process even filed a lawsuit seeking to have it declared invalid."

The Seoul Metropolitan Government added, "The public sector should participate in areas where projects are not financially viable or are difficult to carry out privately, while regulations that hinder investment and resident participation should be eased in areas where private entities can lead redevelopment. The government should also take a balanced approach to improving conditions for privately led redevelopment."

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