[Seoul, Now] The Threat That "If the Mayor Changes, Moa Town Will Disappear"

Policy Taken Hostage by Vote-Harvesting Politics
Developers Cashing In by Selling Anxiety
Residents Must Open Their Eyes Wide and Focus on the Essence

Recently, strange rumors have been circulating in aging low-rise residential areas across Seoul. The talk is that "if the mayor of Seoul changes in the June 3 local elections, all Moa Town projects will disappear." This is a story openly spreading among some redevelopment firms, contractors, and promotion committee members. Their intention to rush residents into signing consent forms by saying "if you do not do it now, you will lose your chance" is all too obvious.

Some cases are even more blatant. They try to get residents to stamp their seals directly on construction and service contracts. Saying "if you do not do it now, you will lose your chance; the district designation must be secured before the election," they pressure residents to hurry into selecting companies even before properly reviewing the business feasibility. Some firms mislead residents by claiming, "You must sign with us first to gain an advantage in getting the district designated." Their scheme to use the election to secure hasty contracts is laid bare.

There are even fake-news-style claims being spread, such as "if a Democratic Party mayor is elected, all Moa Town projects will be scrapped." They are essentially selling anxiety, not policy. This is a textbook case of abusing policy as a political tool and elections as a money-making vehicle. There have been a growing number of cases where, spurred on by this agitation, projects are pushed ahead in haste without sufficient review, only to trigger conflicts among residents.

Moa Town is a policy promoted under Mayor Oh Sehoon, but it is clearly grounded in law and municipal ordinances. It is not the kind of policy that can vanish overnight, regardless of whether the mayor changes or not. Moa Town is based on the "Special Act on the Maintenance and Improvement of Vacant Houses and Small-Scale Housing" (commonly known as the Small-Scale Housing Maintenance Act). It is a system under which aging houses are jointly redeveloped on a small-block basis.

The Small-Scale Housing Maintenance Act has been in force since 2018, but after Mayor Oh Sehoon took office again, Moa Town was actively solicited and expanded in 2022, and has since been called an "Oh Sehoon-branded" policy. The name Moa Town was coined from the idea of bundling Moa "housing" projects (such as street housing maintenance projects) and developing them as a "town." Since 2022, an average of three to four sites per month have been designated across Seoul, bringing the total to nearly 120 sites so far. Centered mainly in the northern part of the city, the projects involve around 40,000 housing units and more than 100,000 residents.

Urban regeneration and redevelopment are not matters of ideology or partisan politics; they are matters of housing reality. The lives of residents who live anxiously in old houses do not change depending on who becomes mayor.

Residents must not be deceived. They need to carefully examine whether a Moa Town project is truly needed in their neighborhood, whether it is financially viable, and what risks are involved. They should not rush to stamp contracts out of fear that the policy might disappear depending on the election outcome. Such impatience leads to poorly designed business plans and, in the end, harms residents.

The political sphere must also guard against using policies as hostages. While acknowledging the achievements of Moa Town, it must also honestly discuss what needs to be improved. This is an agenda that must be addressed regardless of who becomes mayor.

Public officials at the Seoul Metropolitan Government and in each district office must strictly manage the "contractors" entangled in various interests. A passive approach of "we do not intervene unless there is a complaint" is no different from a stance of "we only move after a major accident occurs." Moreover, the moment policies are shaped by political interests rather than residents' benefits, urban redevelopment degenerates into mere fodder for vote-seeking politics.

There are just over 100 days left until local election day. In the coming days, more intimidating claims will surface along the lines of "if candidate XX is elected, policy YY will disappear." Voters need to keep their eyes wide open. They must judge for themselves what the essence of each policy is and what their neighborhood truly needs. Whether it is Moa Town or anything else, the residents are the ones who should be in charge. Not politicians, not contractors.

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