Even After Selecting Public Redevelopment Candidate Sites... The Legal Basis Remains Stalled

'Revision of the Rice Milling Act' Pending in the National Assembly for 5 Months
Additional Candidate Sites to Be Announced in March... Attention on Temporary National Assembly Session in February for Processing

Eight redevelopment areas, including Heukseok 2 District in Dongjak-gu, Seoul, have been selected as pilot sites for the public redevelopment project. The pilot sites are Heukseok 2 in Dongjak-gu, Yangpyeong 13 and 14 in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Yongdu 1-6 and Sinseol 1 in Dongdaemun-gu, Bongcheon 13 in Gwanak-gu, Sinmunno 2-12 in Jongno-gu, and Gangbuk 5 in Gangbuk-gu. A view of Heukseok 2 District in Dongjak-gu on the 15th. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] The legal basis for the 'Public Redevelopment' project, one of the government's key supply measures, is being delayed repeatedly. Although the related bill was already proposed in the National Assembly last September, deliberations have been postponed due to disagreements between the ruling and opposition parties over floor area ratio incentives and mandatory rental housing ratios.

According to the National Assembly and Seoul City on the 27th, the amendment to the 'Urban and Residential Environment Improvement Act (Uria)' containing the basis for public redevelopment has been pending in the National Assembly for five months. Representative Chun Junho of the Democratic Party of Korea proposed it in early September last year, but only brief exchanges of opinions took place at the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee's subcommittee at the end of November that year.

The public redevelopment project is a redevelopment method where residents designate a public institution such as the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) or Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH) as the project implementer to accelerate the project and provide incentives such as increasing the floor area ratio (up to 120% of the legal limit). In return, 50% of the newly supplied housing, excluding the units allocated to union members, must be supplied as public rental or publicly supported private rental housing to strengthen public interest. The amendment to the Uria proposed by Representative Chun includes all these provisions.

The government and the ruling party hold the position that the bill must be passed at the February extraordinary session of the National Assembly starting on the 1st of next month. They argue that the bill's passage is urgent for the smooth progress of the project, given the recent announcement of eight pilot project candidate sites and the planned additional announcements of candidate sites by the end of March.

In particular, unlike the first candidate sites where redevelopment plans have been established, the second candidate sites are either removed from redevelopment zones or were never redevelopment zones to begin with, making the bill's passage even more urgent. A Democratic Party official from the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee said, "Measures to calculate rights and prevent speculation are necessary, so to reduce confusion, the bill must be passed before the additional candidate sites are announced."

However, the opposition People Power Party insists on the need to relax the mandatory rental housing ratio. During the review in November last year, Representative Kim Heeguk of the People Power Party clearly opposed the bill, saying, "If rental housing is supplied in areas where projects are not progressing well, it may further delay the project," and "Increasing the floor area ratio up to 120% will not significantly change profitability."

Representative Chun emphasized in a phone interview with this outlet, "There are really many old housing complexes in Seoul, but under the current rules, there is no solution either way," and added, "This bill is to enable redevelopment so that residents can be supplied with quality housing, and it must be processed as soon as possible."

Meanwhile, Seoul City has stated that it will proceed with what can be done according to procedures even before the law is passed. Seoul City announced plans to hold resident briefings in February and March, designate project implementers by May, start establishing redevelopment plans, and designate redevelopment zones by the end of the year.