Two out of three Seoul residents opposed supplying public housing by using the Yongsan Park site.
On the 24th, a Seoul city survey of 1,000 residents ages 18 and older on "citizen perceptions regarding supplying public housing by using Yongsan Park" found that 63.9% responded "oppose," about twice the 32.0% who responded "support." "Don't know/no response" was 4.1%.
Opposition was tallied as 46.7% "strongly oppose" and 17.2% "somewhat oppose," while support was 16.7% "strongly support" and 15.3% "somewhat support."
Opposition exceeded support across all groups by gender, age, and residential region. Among women, 66.1% expressed opposition, and among men, 61.5% did. By age, people in their 30s had the highest proportion of respondents opposing at 67.1%, followed by those 70 and older (66.0%), ages 18–29 (64.0%), 60s (63.1%), 40s (61.8%), and 50s (61.3%). By region, the southeast recorded the highest response rate opposing at 70.3%, followed by the city center at 65.0%, the southwest at 63.5%, the northwest at 62.8%, and the northeast at 60.0%.
The biggest reason for opposition was cited as "a short-sighted policy that damages a park for future generations to ease a short-term housing shortage" (81.2%, multiple responses). That was followed by "difficulty supplying quickly due to the return of the U.S. military base and soil contamination remediation" (42.3%) and "worsening traffic congestion and burden on urban infrastructure" (41.9%).
By contrast, citizens who supported supplying public housing cited as a key reason that "it can contribute to housing stability for people without homes." In multiple responses, 69.3% of supporters chose this, followed by "supplying public housing instead of private development can enhance public interest" at 56.1% and "it can leverage the excellent location in central Seoul" at 44.3%.
Seoul city plans to use the survey results as basic data reflecting citizen views in consultations with the government and in discussions on the direction of building Yongsan Park and Seoul's housing supply policy.
An Dae-hee, Seoul's future space planning director, said, "In this survey, apart from the need to supply housing, citizen opinion was broadly confirmed that the public value of Yongsan Park should be preserved," adding, "We will closely examine the concerns and demands contained in both opposition and support, and work to ensure Yongsan Park is created as an open public space that future generations can enjoy."
Meanwhile, the survey was commissioned by Seoul city to polling firm Kstat Research and conducted from Aug. 20 to 23, 2026, among 1,000 Seoul residents ages 18 and older. It was carried out through landline and mobile RDD telephone interviews, applying 20% landline and 80% mobile. The margin of error was ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, and the response rate was 10.2%.