Supply Measures Face Backlash in Less Than a Day... Gwacheon City Strongly Demands Exclusion from Measures

Kim Jong-cheon, Mayor of Gwacheon [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] Just hours after the government announced a large-scale new housing supply of 132,000 households, voices of opposition have emerged in various places. The city of Gwacheon in Gyeonggi Province has demanded through a statement in the name of the mayor that the site near the Government Gwacheon Complex, where the second largest supply of 4,000 households is planned, be excluded from the supply plan.

On the 4th, Mayor Kim Jong-cheon of Gwacheon stated, "The public housing supply plan for the Government Gwacheon Complex site and the vacant land within the complex was abruptly announced unilaterally without any prior consultation with Gwacheon City," adding, "We cannot help but feel deep concern and disappointment."

On the same day, the government announced at the Government Seoul Complex the 'Plan to Expand Housing Supply in the Seoul Metropolitan Area and Surrounding Areas,' stating that it would develop the vacant land of the Gwacheon Complex to supply 4,000 new housing units. In particular, the government-owned sites, including this land, are planned to be supplied primarily to youth and newlyweds.

In response to this plan, Mayor Kim, a member of the ruling Democratic Party, immediately voiced opposition. Currently, the 89,000㎡ (approximately 26,900 pyeong) vacant land in front of the Government Gwacheon Complex is being used as parks, playgrounds, and parking lots by citizens. Gwacheon City has been planning to develop this site into a high-tech industrial complex. In November of last year, the city requested the government to "prepare a plan for institutions and research centers to move in as part of the city's growth engine projects."

The site near the Government Gwacheon Complex where the government announced a plan to supply 4,000 households.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Mayor Kim argued that a total of 21,275 apartment units are already under construction in Gwacheon alone, stating, "We fully understand the difficulties the government is facing with real estate issues and are cooperating with the government's real estate policies to the fullest extent possible."

He said, "Supplying another large-scale public housing of about 4,000 units on the Government Gwacheon Complex site and its vacant land would impose unbearable pain on the citizens and the city of Gwacheon," and strongly demanded, "that the Government Gwacheon Complex site and its vacant land be excluded from the government's housing supply plan."

Finally, he expressed his determination, saying, "Gwacheon City must develop into a sustainable future growth-oriented self-sufficient city by establishing an AI bio-cluster, which is a core part of the Korean New Deal policy," and "we will act together with citizens to ensure the withdrawal of the Government Gwacheon Complex housing supply plan."

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