Han Byung-do, acting leader and floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, speaks at a floor leadership meeting held at the National Assembly on the 12th. Yonhap News
With the government and ruling party on the defensive over public anger about housing, the Democratic Party has gone on the offensive, taking direct aim at Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon’s plan for large-scale housing supply. Oh has pledged to supply 310,000 homes by 2031, centered on redevelopment and rebuilding projects, but the Democrats argue that his past large-scale supply pledges produced permit and construction-start figures that fell short of expectations.
Han Byung-doo, the Democratic Party floor leader, took aim at Oh at a floor leadership meeting at the National Assembly on the 12th. Oh has been pouring out criticism of the Lee Jae-myung administration’s housing policy day after day.
“Mayor Oh promised in 2021 to supply 360,000 homes over five years,” Han said. “But housing statistics show that over the three years from 2022 to 2024, Seoul averaged 44,000 housing permits, 41,000 construction starts and 48,000 completions a year.” He also questioned the feasibility of Oh’s recent announcement to build a total of 310,000 homes through 253 redevelopment projects targeted for construction starts by 2031. “The average redevelopment project takes more than 10 years, and countless conflicts and obstacles are expected between permitting and construction starts,” Han said.
Han went on to stress that redevelopment involves tearing down existing housing to build new homes. “Rather than simply announcing that tens of thousands of homes will break ground, one must consider a combination of factors — how much existing housing is demolished, how many residents must relocate in the process, and how much the actual housing stock increases,” he said.
Han also urged Oh to take responsibility for the outcome. “As the entity holding the main permitting authority, he must responsibly propose alternatives — how that supply will be turned into homes people can actually move into, how the demolition and relocation problems that arise in the process will be handled, and how conflicts among the parties involved will be managed,” he said.
The Democratic Party argued that the People Power Party should also cooperate on passing bills at the National Assembly to support expanded supply.
“What is blocking public housing stability at the National Assembly is the duplicity of the People Power Party, to which Mayor Oh belongs,” Han said, criticizing the opposition. “Follow-up bills to the government’s September 7 measures — the Housing Act, the Urban Redevelopment Act, the Special Act on Public Housing and the Act on Aging Public Buildings — have been held up for nearly a year by the People Power Party’s obstruction.” He added, “If the People Power Party has even a shred of conscience, I hope it will convene a plenary session tomorrow and cooperate on passing the housing supply bills.”
Han said, “The government and ruling party will listen to the voices of the public, local governments and the industry, rationalize outdated regulations as much as possible and improve business conditions so that supply measures, including redevelopment projects, can proceed smoothly.”