Seoul Mayor Oh is Committed to Curbing Housing Prices in Gangnam

Mayor Oh Se-hoon speaks at a meeting with reporters, celebrating his one year in office, at Seoul City Hall on July 3.

“Gangnam is a key to keeping housing prices under control in the whole capital, and it also serves as a breakwater to stem house price rises across the nation,” Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said.

Mayor Oh made the remarks while speaking at a meeting with reporters, celebrating his one year in office, on July 3.

“Basically, the lower housing prices go, the better, and housing bipolarization is a culprit of bipolarization of our society,” Oh said.

The reason is that the higher housing prices surge, the bigger each household’s asset gap widens, and the higher housing costs go up, and the lower disposable income declines, the mayor said.

Mayor Oh said surging construction prices and rising personnel costs intensify pressure to push up housing prices, and housing price hikes will be curbed with a focus on the Gangnam area.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) aims to pursue overall renewal in the whole of the capital and ease restrictions on floor height limits, which are some of the factors which experts warn lead to more expensive housing prices.

He explained that it is not a goal to eliminate restrictions on floor height, but more space will be secured in the interests of the whole of the capital through contributions in return for allowing more floors and wider floor spaces.

These steps are designed to secure more afforestation space in urban areas under his “Garden City” initiative, Mayor Oh said.

SMG has a plan to give Seoulites greater access to the Han River by covering the Olympic Road and the Gangbyeon (Riverside) Road.

Mayor Oh disclosed the scheme to create “upper deck parks” along a 960-meter section between Yeongdong Grand and Seongsu bridges to connect the river and its neighborhood urban areas.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon listens to complaints and grievances women experience in their careers as he participated in a talk with career break women on July 3, a first event of Mayor Oh’s celebrating his first year in office.(Photos: SMG)

SMG Implements Project to Help ‘Career Break’ Women Land Jobs

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon lent an ear to complaints and grievances women experience in their careers as he participated in a talk with career break women on July 3, a first event of Mayor Oh’s celebrating his first year in office.

To this end, SMG held the 2023 Seoul Woman UP Fair at Dongdaemun Design Center with scores of large-sized companies and career break women in attendance.

SMG estimates that the number of career break women stands at about 240,000. Figures released by SMG showed that 86 percent of career break women are aged between 30 and 40.

As for the reason of their career break, 42.8 percent cited child care, followed by 26,3 percent due to marriage and 22.7 percent due to pregnancy and childbirth.

It took 7.8 years on average for career break women to find jobs again, a survey finding shows.

SMG, recognizing the fact a low-birth issue cannot be solved without coping with the career break woman issue, implements “Seoul Woman UP Project” to help career break women find jobs again.

Under the project, SMG introduced an assistance money for career break women this year. Career break women who want to land jobs again are offered 300,000 won in the assistance money for three months.

They are given an opportunity to undergo an internship for three months, and companies which hire the interns are given 1 million won for three months in a money of encouraging employment.

A quota of the assistance money program, 2,500 beneficiaries, was filled up in just 50 days since it was launched.

Large-sized companies, including Apple Korea, Starbucks Korea, Korea Tourism Organization, and CJ Freshway, participated in the 2023 Seoul Woman Up Fair.

The companies launched processes for hiring 1,060 career break women. The fair attracted 4,958 spectators during the one-day run.