Democratic Party to Supply 12,000 Households in Guryong Village... 5,000 Households at 'Half Price' (Comprehensive)

Securing Development Area through Floor Area Ratio and Building Height Increase... Song Young-gil: "People Suffer Due to Housing Issues"

Guryong Village archival photo / Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy reporters Baek Kyunghwan, Kim Youngwon, Lee Myunghwan] The Democratic Party of Korea announced on the first day of official election campaigning that it will supply a total of 12,000 housing units in Guryong Village, the only shantytown in Gangnam. Nearly half of these, 5,000 units, will be offered to young people and newlyweds at less than half the market price. The plan involves securing land through floor area ratio adjustments and zoning upgrades.

Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party, unveiled the “Additional Housing Supply Pledge for the Metropolitan Area” at the party headquarters in Yeouido on the 15th. This is an additional supply beyond the 3.11 million units pledged by candidate Lee. Song emphasized that this is Lee’s pledge, saying, "After multiple discussions and calls with candidate Lee, I am making this announcement."

The plan to supply 12,000 units in Guryong Village announced by the Democratic Party on this day will be achieved through a floor area ratio increase of up to 500% and the establishment and upgrading of four types of general residential zones. This means that the currently planned 2,838 units can be increased to 12,000 units.

Of the 12,000 units, 5,000 will be supplied to young people and newlyweds at less than half price. Various supply methods such as ‘Nuguna Jip’ and ‘Basic Housing’ will be introduced. Song explained, "Through this, young people and newlyweds will be able to secure their own homes in Seoul with 40 million won, which is 10% of the sale price."

The plan also includes the recovery of development profits. Profits generated from the development, housing construction and supply, and management of Guryong Village will be prioritized for the supply of 5,000 units for young people and newlyweds. Development profits will also be used to expand infrastructure for local residents and establish cultural and sports facilities.

Furthermore, Song stated, "We will not stop there but will allow citizens to directly participate in development projects and share the resulting profits." He added, "We will issue and distribute digital coins based on blockchain to provide investment opportunities to interested citizens. In this case, priority participation rights will be guaranteed to self-employed and small business owners who suffered greatly from COVID-19 restrictions."

The key issue is whether conflicts between Seoul City and Gangnam District over supply scale and rental ratios can be resolved. During the process of announcing this pledge, the Democratic Party identified three causes for the delayed development of Guryong Village: preferential treatment controversies, unauthorized housing, and rental housing. However, they believe preferential treatment controversies can be resolved by full recovery of development profits, unauthorized housing by granting occupancy rights, and rental housing through the ‘Nuguna Jip’ model.

In addition, the Democratic Party introduced the expansion of the ‘Guryong Village Public Development’ project model as a new pledge. The same model will be applied to 100,000 units to be supplied on part of Yongsan Park and surrounding returned land, with plans to offer these to young people and newlyweds at less than half price. Song said, "Candidate Lee and the Democratic Party will not impose any policy taboos if it is to guarantee a better life for the people," and added, "We will guarantee citizens’ housing choice rights and steadily supply housing as much as the market needs."

Meanwhile, on this day, Song reflected on the Moon Jae-in administration’s real estate policy failures, saying, "The Democratic Party government deeply regrets causing suffering to the people due to housing issues," and apologized, "There were significant policy shortcomings especially in housing supply and support for ordinary people to own homes. I apologize again."

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