The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 27th that the ownership of the land and vinyl houses in Guryong Village (478 Yangjae-daero, Gangnam-gu) has been completely transferred to the Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH).
Guryong Village, the largest shantytown in Seoul, is an unlicensed settlement that formed as displaced residents moved in during the 1970s and 1980s. It was designated as an urban development area in 2012, but development stalled due to differences in opinions regarding the method of development before recently getting back on track.
In March, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced the winning design for the Guryong Village urban development project and stated plans to create an eco-friendly residential complex where all generations, including youth, newlyweds, and the elderly, can coexist by 2029.
Starting in May 2023, SH conducted negotiation contracts after three rounds of compensation meetings and appraisals, following the announcement of the compensation plan. Land and items for which an agreement was not reached underwent the expropriation review procedure in accordance with the Land Expropriation Act.
Expropriation review is a legal procedure that allows a project implementer to acquire land and other items for public utilities by first negotiating with the owners, and if an agreement is not reached, to acquire them through the local land expropriation committee. Out of approximately 240,000 square meters of private land, about 160,000 square meters have been contracted through negotiations, and 80,000 square meters will have its ownership transferred to SH following an expropriation review application in July 2024.
For items such as vinyl houses and temporary structures, negotiations were carried out for 967 confirmed cases out of 1,931 total cases, resulting in a total of 337 negotiated contracts. In the case of unnegotiated and unidentified ownership items, two rounds of expropriation review procedures were conducted to acquire ownership.
Kim Chang-kyu, head of the balanced development bureau of Seoul, said, "We will continue to communicate with residents who have not yet relocated to ensure they can move to a safe living environment, and we will work to start public housing construction stably in the second half of next year."