A senior presidential aide on Wednesday said housing development on part of Yongsan Family Park in central Seoul could help tackle the former US military base’s costly soil cleanup, while putting a vast tract of prime land to use.
As the Lee Jae Myung administration steps up efforts to stabilize the housing market by expanding supply, it has zeroed in on the Yongsan park as a potential site for new homes, citing a shortage of large development sites in Seoul and the park’s prime central location.
But the city of Seoul, Yongsan District Office and local residents oppose the plan, arguing that the land, returned to the public after more than 120 years of foreign military presence, should be preserved for its historical significance as a symbolic national park and as rare green space in central Seoul. They say once such green space is developed, it cannot be restored.
Amid the dispute, Ha Joon-kyung, senior presidential secretary for economic growth, said the cleanup could cost from hundreds of billions of won to more than 1 trillion won ($710 million), and that building homes there would allow contaminated soil to be excavated and treated elsewhere.
“The money it would take to remove contaminants from Yongsan Park ranges from hundreds of billions of won at the low end to the trillions of won,” Ha said during his interview with local broadcaster TV Chosun. “If part of the park were used for housing, we could dig up the ground, take the soil somewhere else and carry out the cleanup work.”
Used by the US military for decades, the Yongsan site was left with contaminated soil and groundwater, with a 297,000-square-meter parcel returned in 1992 and the broader garrison handed back in phases from 2020 after the US Forces Korea headquarters moved in 2018 to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province.
Ha also pointed to the size and location of the Yongsan park, contending that the valuable land in central Seoul should be put to greater use.
“First, if you think about what kind of place the Yongsan park is, it covers 910,000 pyeong (300 hectares). The area inside the embankments of Yeouido is 880,000 pyeong. So there is a piece of land there that is larger than Yeouido,” Ha said.
Ha underlined that “it is important that this valuable piece of land be used well.” He stressed that the government was not proposing turning the entire park into a housing complex, but was considering a balance between park space and housing.
Ha additionally singled out housing for younger people as one possible use.
“We are thinking about ways to make it so that young people can make good use of it, get married and have children,” Ha said.
The proposal would face a legal hurdle. The Special Act on the Creation of Yongsan Park, enacted in 2007 under the Roh Moo-hyun administration, bars the core Yongsan Park site from being sold or transferred for purposes other than use as a park.
“Hasn’t Seoul’s residential environment changed a lot from 20 years ago to the situation today?” Ha said. “We could think about adding a provision that, when there is a significant public-interest purpose, would allow part of it to be excluded through a review.”
The Lee administration has been considering the space for Yongsan Park as it seeks additional housing supply in Seoul, while the Seoul city government and Yongsan-gu have opposed residential development there on historical and environmental grounds.
Ha also addressed Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon’s calls for looser reconstruction and redevelopment rules, reiterating the Lee administration was not opposed, but that such projects could take years and produce relatively limited additional housing.
“Because the housing situation for young people is so bad, we have to find all kinds of ways,” Ha said.
In a separate statement, Cheong Wa Dae said that “the Land Ministry is conducting social discussions, including consultations with relevant agencies and gathering public opinion” over proposals such as using parts of the Yongsan park for new rental housing.
However, Cheong Wa Dae said that “no decisions have been made at this point on the specific method, entity or timing for gathering public opinion, including through opinion polls.”
dagyumji@heraldcorp.com