Won Hee-ryong: "Central Government Will Not Rashly Intervene in Dunchon Jugong Situation"

On the 2nd, Won Hee-ryong, the nominee for Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, attended the confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly and responded to questions from lawmakers. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Won Hee-ryong, the nominee for Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said on the 2nd regarding the suspension of construction at the Dunchon Jugong reconstruction project (Olympic Park Foreon) in Gangdong-gu, Seoul, "The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will closely monitor the situation from outside but will not intervene prematurely."

On the same day, at the National Assembly confirmation hearing, Won responded this way to a question from Jeong Dong-man, a member of the People Power Party, asking about the government's need to intervene in the construction site suspension caused by the surge in raw material prices at Dunchon Jugong and other sites.

Won said, "The Dunchon Jugong incident involves various distrusts and conflicts between the former and new union leaderships, and distrust with the construction consortium connected to them has also taken root. The Seoul Metropolitan Government is attempting mediation through contact, but it is facing difficulties."

He added, "There are various opinions related to construction costs, and this incident is also connected to the price ceiling system for pre-sale apartments. However, exemptions from safety inspections or the reconstruction excess profit recovery system could overly stimulate and throw the reconstruction market into confusion all at once, so we will approach these matters cautiously."

However, Won stated, "Regarding the interests surrounding construction, we are considering ways to ease the situation and resolve the entangled issues carefully."

Meanwhile, the Dunchon Jugong reconstruction project has been completely suspended since midnight on the 15th, as the union executive committee and the construction consortium (Hyundai Engineering & Construction, HDC Hyundai Development Company, Daewoo Engineering & Construction, Lotte Engineering & Construction), which had conflicts over construction cost increases, have been at a stalemate.

The Dunchon Jugong reconstruction is considered the "largest reconstruction project since the founding of Korea," involving the demolition of 5,930 households and the construction of 85 buildings up to 35 floors high, totaling 10,232 households. The current progress rate is 52%.