Chong Won-o, the Democratic Party of Korea candidate running for Seoul mayor, and Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party candidate, clashed over dwellings supply in Yongsan. Oh criticized Chong's remark implying that 10,000 dwellings could be supplied in the Yongsan International Business District as a "chicken-coop apartment cluster." Chong's camp countered that it was an "outrageous comment that betrays ignorance of the global standard."
Chong's camp said in a statement on the 9th, "Oh used lowbrow language on social media to mount a political attack, calling Chong's suggestion that supplying 10,000 dwellings in the Yongsan International Business District is possible a 'chicken-coop apartment cluster.'"
It added, "This lays bare Oh's 'global ignorance' for failing to grasp the current of world urban planning, and it is an outrageous comment that hacks apart citizens' aspirations for a better residential environment," and said, "Chong's plan to supply urban-type mixed housing in the Yongsan International Business District is the 'global standard.'"
They also cited Hudson Yards in New York, United States, and Azabudai Hills in Tokyo, Japan. Chong's camp said, "The common prescription of global cities is the mixed use of business districts," adding, "Yongsan, too, must become a city where residential areas are near workplaces and where schools, hospitals, and parks are together, so that global corporations' headquarters can be attracted."
Earlier, at a briefing with the Seoul City press corps on Mar. 3, Chong said regarding the number of dwellings to be supplied in the Yongsan International Business District, "Whether it is 8,000 or 10,000 dwellings is not important," adding, "We can certainly do 10,000, so we will negotiate with the government and resolve the issues."
Oh, responding to Chong's remark, said on Facebook the previous day, "One wonders whether urban planning, for Chong, is nothing more than a computer simulation game," adding, "The answer that 'numbers don't matter' clearly shows that Chong is, after all, an unprepared candidate for Seoul mayor."
He continued, "The Yongsan International Business District is truly one of the few remaining growth plates for Seoul, tied to the future economic driver for 10 million citizens and the quality jobs that the younger generation desperately wants," adding, "By turning such a Seoul into a chicken-coop apartment cluster, a congested bedroom town, Chong is shattering Seoul's future."
Oh also said, "I have no idea by what means the increasing volume of private-car traffic and the demand for public transportation and parking will be handled," adding, "If we redraw plans for basic infrastructure such as water and sewage from scratch, it will take two years. It means kicking away the 'golden time.'"