At a housing policy performance-sharing session held on Sept. 21 in the main conference room at Seoul City Hall, Oh argued that the "cliff in Seoul's housing supply" originated under his predecessor, the late Mayor Park Won-soon, and said responsibility must be clearly assigned.
"When I took office (in 2021), redevelopment projects were at a standstill," he said. "A total of 389 sites were de-designated between 2012 and 2020, amounting to 430,000 units." He added, "They were busy canceling (redevelopment projects) on the pretext that there were conflicts within preparatory committees or associations. It would be more accurate to say they actually induced the cancellations. It was the Seoul city government that created openings and stoked conflict."
He also said, "The 35-story height cap on residential buildings was introduced under Mayor Park, and many redevelopment complexes stalled because of it. The consent procedure was also tightened from one round to three. The point was to make (redevelopment) as difficult as possible."
Oh explained, "I had refrained from speaking out because it felt like shifting the blame for what the former mayor's aides did onto civil servants. But after a few years, they have brazenly turned around and pinned it on their successor, so I decided I could no longer keep quiet."
Asked about claims by the government and the ruling party that 60% of the 389 redevelopment zones de-designated during Park's tenure were canceled voluntarily, Oh offered a pointed rebuttal: "That's a crafty device to keep up appearances. The prime example is the provision allowing de-designation by administrative authority if 30% of residents object. It was the Seoul city government that fanned conflict and agitated for cancellation once 30% objected. That goes beyond bad conscience — it's sheer malice."
He also took aim at central government regulations. "The weighting for structural safety in reconstruction safety reviews was raised from 20% to 50%, and almost no site passed," Oh said. "From the standpoint of neighborhoods that wanted redevelopment, the policy amounted to an atrocity." He added forcefully, "Have they already forgotten all of that? They set up policies like this and then blame others?"
Earlier, President Lee Jae-myung mentioned Oh during a press conference on Sept. 18 in discussing the causes of the surge in Seoul home prices, saying supply had fallen beginning in the year Oh was elected. "Looking at short-term causes, it was 2022 — the year the Yoon Suk-yeol government took office, and also the year Mayor Oh Se-hoon was elected. From that point, permits and construction starts halved," Lee said. He added, "There are some who make excuses that it was because of Mayor Park Won-soon. In any case, from that year through 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, the figures fell by nearly half and supply shrank sharply. That is the short-term cause."
Responding, Oh said, "There may be various reasons why permit and construction-start volumes fall, but if the earlier steps — zone designation, association formation and the like — don't proceed smoothly, permits are impossible. How can you grant approval when the groundwork isn't there?" He then shot back, "Watching a president make such a far-fetched claim in public, I couldn't help but lament."
