Reconstruction and Redevelopment “Top Instructor” Seo Juno: How Will He Transform Shrinking Nowon District?

Interview with Seo Juno, Head of Nowon District
Building a “self-sufficient city” with reconstruction, jobs, education and recreation
“A district chief who works through the legislative process”

The presale price of a new apartment with 59 square meters of exclusive-use space is about KRW 900 million in Nowon District, compared with KRW 1.8 billion to KRW 3.1 billion in Seoul’s three Gangnam districts. The same standards apply to reconstruction regulations and public-contribution obligations, but the proceeds from sales differ by a factor of two to three. As a result, contributions required from members of reconstruction associations in Nowon amount to about 69% of the value of their existing assets, far higher than the 9% to 26% in the three Gangnam districts. These are figures in materials Seo Juno, head of Seoul’s Nowon District, handed over before the interview.

Nowon has 73 apartment complexes with a total of 83,000 households that are more than 30 years old. The district’s population, which once exceeded 600,000, had fallen to 478,638 as of the end of October this year, based on resident registration figures.

Nowon District Mayor Seo Junho explains the progress of reconstruction and redevelopment projects in the district, with a map displayed on the “Smart Vision” screen, on the 3rd. The district makes this information available to residents on its website. Provided by Nowon District.

On his first day in office in July, Seo established the “Reconstruction Fast-Track Task Force (TF)” under the direct supervision of the district chief as his first official approval. Now, four months into his term, restrictions on activities to prevent the subdivision of commercial units at 13 designated reconstruction sites are set to be reviewed by the Urban Planning Committee this month. We met him in his office at the district office on November 3 to ask how he plans to make Nowon a “self-sufficient city” and what can revive the district as its population shrinks.

The interview began before we sat down. Seo put a map of urban renewal projects in Nowon on the large screen in his office and walked us through each complex.

“Seoul One will have up to 49 floors, and construction has now reached around 30 floors. They’re digging at Baeksa Village. Residents are moving out of Wolgye Dongshin. Of Hyundai Woosung, Jangmi, Miseong and Cheongsol near Hagye Station, the maintenance plans for three complexes will be approved by mid-November.”

He also compared the complexes leading projects around each station area to “blue-chip stocks” in the stock market. Pointing to a complex that was not yet shaded on the map, he explained: “When residents secure 30% consent to apply for reconstruction, it’s like just starting a 100-meter sprint. If you don’t have 30%, you’re still standing at the starting line.” His briefing in front of the map felt like a top instructor’s lesson at the blackboard.

Removing uncertainty to move up the timeline

Seo’s targets for his term are to secure approval for implementation plans at 31 sites and to begin or complete construction at 16 sites. The targets cover 48 apartment complexes undergoing reconstruction and six areas undergoing redevelopment in Nowon.

One of the measures he cited to speed up projects is a “preliminary review of consent forms.” Applicants can submit documents for review before gathering all the required consent, allowing them to make corrections before formally filing. He used election commissions as an example: they review documents starting a week before candidates register, and if there are no issues, the documents are sealed in an envelope and submitted as is. “If we cut a month or two at each stage of the process, we can save more than a year,” he said.

“Regulatory Innovation 100,” a plan to revise 100 regulations during his term, was inspired by an announcement from another district chief. Seo said that after seeing Kim Hyun-ki, head of Gangnam District, announce a plan to shorten the reconstruction process, he asked his staff, “Why didn’t you suggest something like this?”

His staff then volunteered to identify 100 measures. They have identified more than 20 so far, and the district said it had proposed 12 of them to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Seoul Metropolitan Government, with four adopted. “Public officials can only do things the way they’ve always done them. The district chief needs to understand the issues well and give specific instructions,” he said.

“Gangnam and Nowon are not the same, even though they’re both in Seoul. That’s the reality,” he said. He presented a hypothetical scenario in which the same 20 additional apartments were allowed to be sold in both Nowon and Gangnam. At KRW 700 million per apartment, the 20 units would bring in KRW 14 billion for the association in Nowon; at KRW 3 billion each, they would bring in KRW 60 billion in Gangnam. The public sector pays the same price to purchase rental housing that must be built in proportion to the increase in floor-area ratio. At first glance, this may seem fair, but he argued that the differing circumstances make it inequitable.

“The purchase price for rental housing is lower than construction costs, so associations ask to reduce the number of rental units,” he said. “If we make sure they don’t lose money by building more, there’s no reason for them to object.” The district is calling for the introduction of a “sale price adjustment coefficient” and the “differentiated application of purchase prices for rental housing.”

Nowon District Mayor Seo Juno is being interviewed by The Asia Business Daily in his office at Nowon District Office on the 3rd. Photo provided by Nowon District.

The goal is a “self-sufficient city”...but relocation remains a concern

As reconstruction gathers pace, the burden of relocation grows as well. Seo said he expects relocation demand to peak around 2031. “The biggest challenge ahead is relocation. It will be difficult to resolve, and there are limits to what the district chief can do, so it’s a concern,” he said. He added: “To address the problem, let residents displaced by reconstruction temporarily use the additional units at permanent public rental housing complexes that Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH) and Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) are rebuilding.” He proposed to the government the idea of adding to the Urban Improvement Act a legal basis for designating relocation housing, which is already included in the Special Act on the Maintenance and Development of Planned Cities.

At the district level, Nowon has started a program with real estate agents to reduce brokerage fees by up to 20% for households relocating to designated complexes. The number of participating agencies has grown from 19 initially to 28 in just one month.

Seo expects a net increase of about 30,000 households in the Sanggye, Junggye and Hagye housing development districts alone, and more than 50,000 when redevelopment is included. Adding the 6,800 households planned for Taereung Country Club, he said, the population could eventually recover to around 550,000. “The area needs to reach this scale for local businesses to recover and the local economy to gain momentum,” he said. “The aim of providing quality housing is to transform a bedroom community, where people only sleep, into a self-sufficient city where they work, learn and relax.”

The key to Nowon’s job-creation future lies in the Gwangwoon University Station area, where the headquarters of HDC Hyundai Development Company will be located; Seoul Digital Bio City (S-DBC), which is expected to attract about 800 companies and create more than 85,000 jobs; and the redevelopment of the Korea Electric Power Corporation Human Resources Development Institute site. The district also cited the six general hospitals and 11 universities within a 10-kilometer radius as an advantage for S-DBC.

Born in a shantytown in Sanggye-dong, Seo attended elementary, middle and high school and university in Nowon. He spent 13 years as an aide to former National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, served as chief of staff to Kim Seong-hwan when he was district chief, and worked as an administrative officer in the Blue House’s Climate and Environment Secretary’s Office. During the 2022 presidential election, he coordinated the campaign’s overall operations as senior team leader at Lee Jae-myung’s campaign headquarters’ general situation room.

During his four years as a Seoul Metropolitan Council member, he spent two years each on the Urban Planning and Balance Committee and the Housing and Space Committee. “My experience with both district-unit planning and urban renewal work over four years has become a major asset in advancing reconstruction and redevelopment policies,” he said.

He described his strength as “understanding the legislative process.” He said: “When an issue arises, an aide identifies the problem, considers how to change the system, and works to amend the law if the government cannot act. That experience is also why I can tell staff, when they say ‘it can’t be done,’ ‘Let’s change it this way and give it a try.’” Seo said, “These days, I live with a sense of fulfillment, anticipation and responsibility as the hometown where I was born and have lived changes day by day.”

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