Citizen Group: "Greenbelt Should Not Be Damaged for Housing Supply Reasons"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] On the morning of the 21st, 28 civic groups including People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy held a press conference in front of the Blue House Fountain Plaza, urging the government not to damage the Greenbelt under the pretext of expanding housing supply.

The civic groups stated, "President Moon Jae-in has expressed that he will not consider lifting the Greenbelt (development-restricted area), but the Greenbelt is still being forcibly lifted, including the Tae-neung Golf Course site mentioned as an alternative."

They continued, "The Greenbelt has repeatedly been destroyed due to housing supply expansion policies," pointing out, "From 1999 to 2019, the government lifted 1,560㎢ of Greenbelt nationwide, but housing prices rose and the housing insecurity of ordinary citizens worsened." They also criticized, "If the government is willing to lower housing prices, it should propose strong measures to eradicate speculation rather than lifting the Greenbelt."

They argued that affordable public housing should be supplied through station-area public development, the price ceiling system for sale prices should be made mandatory, and the housing supply policy concentrated in the metropolitan area should be stopped.

The civic groups demanded, "The government should apologize for irresponsibly mentioning the lifting of the Greenbelt for future generations despite it being a problem of real estate policy," and urged, "Those responsible, including Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Hong Nam-ki and Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Hyun-mi, who have led the controversy over lifting the Greenbelt, should be held accountable."

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