Government announces major housing supply package
South Korea's government has announced plans to supply more than 230,000 additional homes in the Seoul metropolitan area, aiming to tame persistently high housing prices in the capital region. The plan, unveiled on Aug. 13 by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, focuses on accelerating development on public land, easing some greenbelt restrictions, and supporting private-sector projects.
According to a Yonhap News Agency report, about 100,000 of the new homes will come from newly designated public housing districts, with specific sites including 1,000 homes in Gangseo district in Seoul, 21,700 homes in Namyangju district in Gyeonggi Province, and 4,500 homes in Gwangju district in the province. The government also said it would provide support to private developers, who account for more than 80 percent of housing supply in the region.
Land Minister Kim Yun-duk said at a briefing that it is most important to lay a solid foundation for housing supply to stabilize the housing market. The plan builds on the Lee Jae Myung administration's September 2025 housing supply plan, which aims to start construction on 1.35 million homes in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province by 2030. In January, the government also unveiled an additional urban housing supply plan to build 60,000 homes on underutilized sites in high-demand urban locations, including a military golf course, the former Defense Counterintelligence Command site, and Seoul Racecourse in Gwacheon.
Dispute erupts over Yongsan Park proposal
A central element of the plan has sparked a major political and civic dispute. Land Minister Kim Yun-duk said on Aug. 19 that the government is considering using parts of Yongsan Park that have lost some function as green spaces for limited housing development. The park spans about 3 million square meters, equivalent to roughly 420 football fields.
Kim denied plans to bulldoze green areas in Yongsan Park, saying the government is reviewing sites within or around the park that have already been developed or used for other purposes, including former officers' residences, military housing, and the former site of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. Around 200 residents gathered at a park in Yongsan, according to an unofficial police estimate, to protest the housing plan.
Opposition People Power Party (PPP) lawmakers accused the government of reversing President Lee Jae Myung's campaign pledge to turn Yongsan Park into a public space like New York's Central Park. Rep. Kim Eun-hye was quoted as saying, "It was President Lee Jae Myung who pledged to turn Yongsan Park into a public space for citizens like New York's Central Park. Even that campaign pledge is being reversed." Ruling party lawmakers argued that the government was considering housing development only in areas deemed unsuitable for use as parks.
Seoul mayor and minister fail to bridge differences
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said he met with Land Minister Kim Yun-duk on Aug. 20 and they were unable to narrow their differences over Yongsan Park. "I met with Minister Kim to discuss several pending issues but, ultimately, we were unable to bridge our differences regarding Yongsan Park," Oh said in a press briefing. He said he cannot agree to building apartments on the entire Yongsan Park site under any circumstances.
The government and the ruling party are reviewing a plan to build rental apartments for young people in Yongsan Park. The Seoul city government opposes the plan, arguing Yongsan Park is a national asset that should remain intact as green space. The park is mostly located on land returned from a U.S. military garrison and is state-owned property whose use has been legally designated under a special law.
Oh proposed a compromise to use state-owned land around Yongsan Park, citing former Camp Kim, the former site of Gyeongridan (Army Financial Management Corps), and a foreign ministry parking lot. He said Yongsan Park is directly linked to the quality of life and leisure of Seoul citizens and is a major part of the green axis extending from Mount Namsan to the Han River.
Government, ruling party reach consensus on tax revision
Meanwhile, the government and the ruling Democratic Party (DP) shared a consensus on Sunday on the need to relax a proposed tax revision that could hurt single-home owners not living in the property, a party spokesperson said. The consensus was reached during a high-level policy coordination meeting held for the first time since last Monday's election of former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok as DP leader.
"A consensus was formed between the party and the government on various opinions, such as expanding residency recognition for people who do not live in their property for inevitable reasons," DP senior spokesperson Park Sung-joon said at a press briefing at the National Assembly after the meeting. The two sides agreed to push for a revision to the law to authorize local government chiefs to issue construction permits for residential complexes of up to 500 units.
During the meeting at the official residence of Prime Minister Han Seong-sook, the DP leader addressed the controversy surrounding the government's push to increase housing supply in the greater Seoul area and the accompanying tax code revisions, saying more deliberation was needed regarding the proposal to effectively increase taxes on single-home owners who do not live in the property. Under the proposal, the government will lower their basic deduction for the comprehensive real estate holding tax from the current 1.2 billion won (US$865,500) to 900 million won.
"We need to broadly recognize the various inevitable reasons for not living in the property and remove blind spots," Kim Min-seok said. Presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik stressed the importance of sending clear "signals," such as when, where, and how many units will be built, in order to ease the public's anxieties around housing supply. Kang asked the party's local leaders to present ways to secure land for housing construction in the immediate term.