“LCT Has No Private Profit Recovery” vs “Infrastructure Disguised as Daejang-dong Line Recovery” ... Daejang-dong Summoned at Busan City Audit

Busan Mayor Park Hyung-jun is taking an oath at the 2021 National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee audit held in the main conference room of Busan City Hall on the 15th. [Image source=Busan City]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] At the Busan City National Assembly audit held on the 15th, the private development project in Busan, Haeundae LCT, was compared to ‘Daejang-dong,’ leading to a heated debate between ruling and opposition party lawmakers.

Ruling party lawmakers argued that there were no recovery profits in the Busan Haeundae LCT project and that it gave more special favors to the private sector than Daejang-dong, while opposition party lawmakers criticized that the ancillary urban infrastructure that should have been properly provided was being deceptively labeled as profit recovery from Daejang-dong.

At the National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee’s Busan City audit held at Busan City Hall that day, Park Wan-joo, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, pointed out, “The LCT project was originally a public development by Busan City, but after land preparation, the site was transferred to private developers at cost, and the urban plan was changed to allow residential facilities to be built.” He added, “Busan City did not conduct an environmental impact assessment and even spent 100 billion won to create infrastructure such as roads and small parks instead of the private developers, making it a complete special favor project.”

He also claimed, “The total sales revenue from housing, commercial buildings, and residences in the LCT project amounts to 4.5 trillion won, but the recovery profit returned to Busan citizens is zero.”

Seo Beom-su, a member of the People Power Party, rebutted, “Governor Lee Jae-myung claims that he recovered profits from Daejang-dong and returned about 500 billion won to citizens through parks and other means, but that does not make sense.” He said, “It is deceptive to say that the city returned profits when it only provided ancillary infrastructure that comes with urban development.”

In response, Park Hyung-joon, Mayor of Busan, said, “It is impossible to simply compare LCT and Daejang-dong,” adding, “The Daejang-dong issue involves a public-private joint land development where enormous profits from land value were given to the private sector.” He explained, “The problem is that private developers were specially allocated the most central block among the core 270,000 pyeong (approximately 891,000 square meters) to generate profits.”

Mayor Park stated, “LCT bought land developed by Busan Urban Corporation and changed the original conditions, which involved several legal issues, but whether LCT gained excessive profits during the development process is a separate matter.” He emphasized, “The core issue with the Daejang-dong project is that the land development yielded enormous profits for the private sector.”

On the same day, a fierce confrontation broke out between ruling and opposition party lawmakers over Mayor Park’s indictment related to allegations of instructing the National Intelligence Service to conduct civilian surveillance concerning the Four Major Rivers Project.

Baek Hae-ryun, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, argued, “The surveillance documents clearly state ‘Public Relations Planning Officer’s request.’ The National Intelligence Service is not an agency that cannot distinguish between requests made by an individual Public Relations Planning Officer and those made by the Public Relations Planning Officer organization. The indictment is based on clear evidence.”

In response, Park Wan-soo of the People Power Party questioned, “Many complaints were filed by the ruling party and civic groups regarding the mayoral election, but except for one indictment, all were dismissed. Isn’t this indictment also an attempt to pressure opposition politicians?”

Mayor Park said, “The ‘Public Relations Planning Officer’ mentioned in the documents refers to a system, not a person,” and added, “The truth will be revealed during the trial process.”

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