Oh Se-hoon "Lee must abandon the theory that public development is omnipotent... 90% of housing supply in Seoul is private."

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Dong-gyu = Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon directly criticized President Lee Jae-myung's visit to the Jangwi-dong public redevelopment site on the 4th, saying, "Get away from the omnipotence of public development and first listen to the voices of residents who are eagerly awaiting redevelopment."

On this day, Mayor Oh posted a post on Facebook titled 'If you are sincere about the redevelopment project, please come to Changsin-dong' and criticized, "The President has revealed a biased perception of the private and public sectors, saying that private development has a high risk of corruption, while public development can be promoted quickly."

On this day, President Lee Jae-myung visited the public redevelopment site in Jangwi-dong, Seongbuk-gu, inspected the progress of the project, and said, "If the public (redevelopment) is done, the speed will be faster and the possibility of corruption will be reduced, but there are still many movements to lead the private sector. This is all because of so-called corruption."

In response to this, Mayor Oh Se-hoon said, "It is none other than private projects that have accounted for about 90% of Seoul's housing supply over the past three years," and pointed out, "Ignoring the role and importance of private development is the same as ignoring the core of housing supply."

He then argued that the President should have ordered the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to "abandon the old dichotomous thinking that 'private development is speculation and public development is supply' and speed up all maintenance projects."

Mayor Oh emphasized that Jangwi New Town, which President Lee visited, is a site where the problems of the release of past maintenance zones can be confirmed.

He said, “New residential complexes have been built in areas where redevelopment has occurred, but in areas where redevelopment zones have been lifted, old houses and narrow alleys still remain,” adding, “The quality of life and residential environment of the residents are sharply divided with just one road in between.”

At the same time, he pointed out that during the time of former Mayor Park Won-soon, the ex officio deregulation of maintenance zones was enforced based on the consent of less than half of the residents, and that Jangwi New Town was the place where residents protested against the administrative procedures and even filed an invalidity lawsuit.

Mayor Oh Se-hoon selected Changsin-dong as another example that shows the negative effects of stopping maintenance projects.

He criticized, “In the 14 districts of the Changshin-Sungin Redevelopment Promotion District, the entire new town was released without sufficient resident consent, and a budget of about 87 billion won was invested in the name of urban regeneration. As a result, the old houses and narrow alleys are still the same.”

He then claimed that although the Seoul Metropolitan Government has re-promoted redevelopment through rapid integrated planning for the past five years, the project has suffered setbacks again since Yoo Chan-jong, head of Jongno-gu, a member of the Democratic Party, took office.

Mayor Oh criticized, "Residents in Changshin Districts 9 and 10 had difficulty gathering consent of more than 75%, which exceeded the legal standard, but Jongno-gu Office is demanding that consent be received again from the beginning after delaying the designation process for the project for several months."

He said, "If there is an illegal problem in the consent process, it must be thoroughly checked and corrected," but asked, "Is it really a reasonable administration to return to square one the efforts and hopes that countless residents have built up with difficulty?"

He continued, “If the President is sincere about the maintenance project, he should not just watch the barbaric behavior of the leader of the Democratic Party trampling on the residents’ bloody and tearful years twice.”

Mayor Oh emphasized, "I ask the President to visit Changsin-dong," and added, "You will be able to see through the vivid voices of the residents why redevelopment and reconstruction are desperately needed and how irresponsible administration has made their lives miserable for a long time."

He added, “Otherwise, the government’s call for ‘shut up and supply’ will end up being nothing more than an empty slogan that ignores the desperation on the ground.”