(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lim Hyeong-seop = President Lee Jae-myung visited a public redevelopment site in progress in the Jangwi-dong area of Seongbuk-gu, Seoul on the 4th and inspected the progress of the project.
As interest in the housing price issue in the metropolitan area has recently increased, it is interpreted as a move to highlight the government's commitment to 'rapid supply', one of the key housing policy principles.
In his opening remarks at a meeting held with government officials, including Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Hong Ji-seon, and field officials, President Lee said, "The public redevelopment method has many effectiveness, but the problem is that it takes too long," and encouraged, "10 years is the standard, but it takes 20 or even 30 years, so I think we need to speed up the pace."
In particular, he mentioned, "Please pay attention to administrative procedures so that the project can proceed early. If the project proceeds early, it would be good to strengthen various incentives, such as floor area ratio or financial support."
He also evaluated, "In the case of public redevelopment, there is little concern about corruption. The fact that this government has promised to provide incentives will also greatly help in terms of speed and business feasibility."
He also appealed to the National Assembly, saying, "(Processing related bills) seems to be delayed more than expected. Prompt processing of pending laws will greatly help speed up business on the ground."
President Lee said, “The housing price issue is a representative core issue in our country that everyone is worried about. From the government’s perspective, stabilizing housing prices in the metropolitan area is more important than any other task.”
He continued, “There is a fundamental problem in Korea called concentration in the metropolitan area. Land (in the metropolitan area) is limited and the number of people is increasing, which is having a negative impact on housing prices.”
In addition, he explained, "The number of housing permits has plummeted since 2022, creating a supply cliff. Recently, the pace has recovered and permits have increased significantly, but the opinion in the field is that for realistic effects to be seen, it must be 2028 or 2029 at the earliest."
President Lee repeatedly emphasized that he would do his best to provide rapid supply, saying, "We will accelerate the distributed and regionally balanced development of the metropolitan area. We are also doing our best to increase the supply of new housing sites as much as possible."
Prior to the meeting, President Lee toured the public redevelopment site in Jangwi District 9.
After hearing LH's status report, President Lee showed interest by asking about the floor area ratio and why part of Jangwi District 4 was excluded from the redevelopment target.
After hearing an explanation about an area where redevelopment has been in progress for 18 years, he said, "If private redevelopment is promoted by forming a cooperative, it is delayed due to fights every time," and pointed out the important role of administration in apartment placement during the redevelopment process.
In addition, while listening to the explanation, he pointed out, "If the public (redevelopment) is carried out, the speed will be faster and the possibility of corruption will be reduced, but there are still many movements to lead the private sector," and "This is all because of so-called corruption."
In response to the explanation that LH's manpower had decreased significantly during the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, he asked, "Didn't they tell you to hire a lot of people?"
