No turning back

Decision that could permanently reshape Yongsan Park requires broader public debate

Last Thursday, the government announced a plan to supply more than 230,000 housing units in the Seoul metropolitan area.

However, Yongsan Park was not included in the plan.

On the same day, Ha Joon-kyung, senior presidential secretary for economic growth, said in a radio interview following the announcement of the real estate measures that "it is necessary to provide housing on the Yongsan Park site."

The following day, Land Minister Kim Yun-duk said at a press briefing, "Limiting the discussion to Yongsan Children's Garden, a partially opened section of Yongsan Park, is too narrow a view. We are considering the entire Yongsan Park as a potential site for housing development."

According to subsequent reports, the government and ruling party were reviewing a plan to build a rental housing complex for young people in Yongsan Park.

Both the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Yongsan District Office oppose the plan, arguing that the park is a national asset that should be left intact for future generations in an era of climate crisis.

The controversy boils down to whether to preserve the green space in central Seoul or reduce it by building rental housing there.

It is impossible to say at this point which option is right. The question of whether to convert the space that has been preserved as part of the government's effort to create a park for all citizens into a rental housing complex is not a decision that should be made hastily.

Yongsan Park, which spans about 3 million square meters, consists of a park development zone, a mixed-use facilities zone and other surrounding areas. It is state-owned land whose use has already been legally designated under a special law.

The Special Act on the Creation of Yongsan Park, enacted in 2007 under the administration of President Roh Moo-hyun of the then-ruling Democratic Party of Korea, prohibits the government from selling the site or changing its use for purposes other than a park. The land where foreign troops were stationed for more than a century has finally returned to the hands of the Korean people as a park for all.

Of course, if the ruling party, which holds a commanding majority in parliament, amends the law and the land minister approves the housing plan, the government could push ahead with the construction of rental apartments in the park.

However, if the promise made to the public — to create a Korean version of New York's Central Park and preserve it for future generations, a promise upheld for nearly two decades by governments regardless of which party was in power — is abandoned less than a week after the minister's remarks, few Seoul residents will support it.

More importantly, once a housing complex is built in Yongsan Park, it will be impossible to convert the site back into a park.

So far, this government has pushed ahead with policies despite public opposition, maintaining the view that it can implement them first and address any problems later. Of course, there were at least some means of reversing course when adverse effects emerged.

But housing development in Yongsan Park is different. Once it goes ahead, there will be no turning back.

The land ministry and Seoul are scheduled to discuss Yongsan Park and the use of greenbelt areas on Thursday. The ruling party is considering passing a bill to amend the special act at a plenary session of the National Assembly on the same day.

Given that the proposal would irreversibly develop Seoul's large urban park site, it appears to be moving forward with undue haste. Any move to modify the principle of creating a park for all citizens on the prime site in the center of the capital should be preceded by public debate and social consensus.

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