[Yeouido Renaissance] "My Religion is Construction" Bulldozer Kim Hyun-ok Builds Yunjungje

One night in 1968, Kim Hyun-ok, the mayor of Seoul, lay down on a steel bed set up next to the construction site in Yeouido. Suddenly, an idea came to him. The title: ‘Yeouido’.

Here, Han River Yeouido is the energy of 4 million

of us.

Here, Han River Yeouido is made up of hundreds of millions

of grains of sand.

Here, in Han River Yeouido, our wisdom, passion, will, hope

and even our spirit

are gathered and united.

Here, the future of Han River Yeouido

we must protect.

◆The ‘Bulldozer’ Kim Hyun-ok obsessed with Yeouido... built the embankment in 110 days

Kim Hyun-ok, the 14th Mayor of Seoul

Mayor Kim was obsessed with ‘Yeouido’ like a possessed shaman. As soon as he woke up, he went straight to the construction site of Yeouido Yunjungje. Since he frequently went out to Yeouido, he even set up a mobile mayor’s office. The ideas about Yeouido would come to him even when lying in bed, so those around him could only shake their heads in disbelief. Son Jeong-mok, an emeritus professor at the University of Seoul who closely observed him, recalled, "When a shaman performs a ritual, they begin completely superhuman movements. During the Yunjungje construction period, Mayor Kim Hyun-ok was in exactly that state. Possessed by a spirit, he neither got sick nor collapsed."

During his lifetime, Mayor Kim often said, "For me, religion is construction." This belief was fully reflected in the Yunjungje construction. He called the Yunjungje project a ‘chodolgwan construction.’ ‘Dol-gwan’ was a term used by Japanese soldiers, meaning going into enemy lines with a gun and sword. He added the prefix ‘cho’ (super) to emphasize it. Ultimately, he completed the embankment on the sand island of Yeouido in just 110 days. He immediately entrusted the urban planning to architect Kim Sookeun. However, the Yeouido plan by Kim Hyun-ok and Kim Sookeun was never realized because Mayor Kim stepped down in 1970 after the collapse accident of Wow Apartment. Nevertheless, his achievement of completing the Yunjungje embankment, which provided the foundation for new urban planning in an extremely short period, is the first notable record in the history of Yeouido.

◆Yang Taek-sik and Son Jeong-mok, who redesigned ‘Dream Yeouido’ into ‘Real Yeouido’

Yang Taek-sik, the 15th Mayor of Seoul Metropolitan City

Yang Taek-sik, who was governor of Gyeongbuk Province, succeeded Kim Hyun-ok as mayor of Seoul. The first issue he faced in city administration was financial difficulties. Due to the previous mayor’s reckless construction projects, debts piled up, and the city was barely able to pay its employees’ salaries. He focused on ‘Yeouido.’ His plan was to sell the land developed in Yeouido to the private sector and build luxury apartments to sell to private buyers. This was a two-pronged strategy to restore trust in Seoul, which had been shaken by the Wow Apartment collapse, and to attract population to drive Yeouido’s development.

Yang Taek-sik brought in Son Jeong-mok, who was then deputy director at the Central Officials Training Institute. However, selling the land in the barren Yeouido was not easy. When Son Jeong-mok first visited Yeouido, his first word was a sigh, "Aigo!" ("Oh dear!"). "What should we do with this vast 800,000-pyeong (approx. 2.64 million sq ft) flat sandy land with no elevation?" he lamented. To attract interest from citizens and investors, proving Yeouido’s value was urgent. He directly requested Professor Park Byung-joo of Hongik University to create a new Yeouido plan. The requirement was simple: "Make the Yeouido land easy to sell." Thus, Kim Sookeun’s three-dimensional plan was changed to a two-dimensional plan.

Jeon Seoul National University Professor Emeritus Son Jeongmok

At the same time, Seoul City began selling pilot apartments. Although there were initial difficulties in sales, by emphasizing specialized facilities, transportation, and school districts, premiums soon appeared. As the Yeouido pilot apartment construction progressed, the land in Yeouido also began to sell. By 1971, Seoul City’s direct investment in Yeouido was 5.419 billion won, and by the end of that year, it earned a net profit of 1.587 billion won. Of this, 1 billion won was allocated to subway construction costs. The city’s finances, which were on the brink of bankruptcy, dramatically recovered. Thanks to the practical decisions of Yang Taek-sik and Son Jeong-mok, Yeouido transformed from a burden into a treasure.

◆A single phrase from Park Chung-hee that created the east-west divided Yeouido

Former President Park Chung-hee

"Make a plaza as bright as Mayor Yang’s forehead."

Mayor Yang Taek-sik was balding. President Park Chung-hee ordered the creation of a large plaza in the middle of Yeouido. He personally drew the lines with a red pencil. The plaza measured 1,350 meters long and 280 to 315 meters wide, covering about 120,000 pyeong (approx. 396,000 sq meters). It was an asphalt-paved plaza with no greenery or flower beds. Even today, Yeouido is completely divided east and west by Yeouido Plaza. This division was created by that very phrase from President Park.

Currently, Yeouido Plaza is often criticized as a ‘plaza that hinders organic regional connection rather than facilitating it.’ However, there is also a counterargument that the historical context at the time of the plaza’s creation must be considered. President Park built the bleak-looking large plaza in the center for ‘security’ reasons. At a time when North Korean provocations were intensifying, it was judged necessary to have an airfield for capital defense.

◆"Towards a global financial and cultural hub" ? Oh Se-hoon’s redesign of Yeouido

Oh Se-hoon, Mayor of Seoul

Yeouido is dreaming of leaping beyond being the center of Korean finance and culture to becoming a global hub. The key figure is Oh Se-hoon, the mayor of Seoul. In March, Seoul City approved the Yeouido Financial Specific Development Promotion District plan. Initiatives include ▲establishing a Digital Finance Support Center ▲fostering fintech companies ▲strengthening branding and promotion of the financial hub ▲activating financial education ▲creating an English-friendly environment. The total project budget is 59.357 billion won, to be invested over five years from this year through 2027. Mayor Oh plans to develop Yeouido into one of the world’s top five international financial centers.

Additionally, Mayor Oh plans to enhance Yeouido’s cultural infrastructure to increase its extensibility. Seoul City plans to build a second Sejong Cultural Center along the Han River in Yeouido, integrate Yeouido Park and Hangang Park, and develop the area into a complex cultural space focused on popular culture content. The construction of ‘Seoul Port,’ an international passenger terminal in Yeouido scheduled for the first half of 2026, is also part of the plan to significantly strengthen tourism and cultural infrastructure.

The responsibility for implementing Mayor Oh’s vision lies with Cho Nam-jun, director of Seoul City’s Urban Planning Bureau. Director Cho said, "Various projects such as the Financial Center District Unit Plan, Apartment District Unit Plan, and the second Sejong Cultural Center are being promoted simultaneously in Yeouido," adding, "We will greatly relax regulations to make Yeouido an international digital financial hub."