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Seoul's Metropolitan Gov't announced almost two weeks ago that it will re-evaluate its “New Town" projects through a series of feasibility studies that could ultimately determine their fate...
Last week The Atlantic (U.S. monthly magazine) published the following article:
Seoul Ends Failed 'New Towns' Project
After 10 years, a Korean program that actively tore down older, low-density neighborhoods and replaced them with high-density “new towns” is coming to an end. Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon announced the end of the program, which was intended to help provide housing for the rapidly growing South Korean capital, last week.
The "new towns" were initially heralded as a success but quickly fell victim to the global economic downturn. Thousands of Seoul residents have been caught in the crash.
“The city, lawmakers, the government and construction companies should apologize for having misled public opinion on new towns,” Park said.
The scheme was first introduced in 2002 by former Seoul mayor Lee Myung-bak, a homebuilder before becoming mayor and now the country’s president. The project built on a previous new town effort begun in the late 1980s to alleviate crowding in the city by building five new towns about 20 kilometers outside the city. Lee’s effort was intended to create better living conditions for low-income residents, starting with three pilot projects in slum areas. With financial success, these projects inspired dozens of developers to take on similar redevelopment efforts throughout the city.
The new towns seemed like a good idea during the real estate boom, with locals in “old towns” clamoring for the redevelopment projects that would grandly increase their property values. But now, most residents in areas that had been slated for redevelopment as new towns would prefer to stick with the old as the financial benefits of redevelopment have disappeared.
Indeed, 85 percent of the proposed new town developments haven’t broken ground.
Property values, though, are not the only reason the citizens of Seoul have turned against new towns. Many of the new towns have been built so far out into the periphery that it takes hours to commute to the city, where jobs are. And many residents have been priced out of the marketplace, taking buyouts for their demolished homes that don’t come close to paying for new ones in the city.
There are more than 1,300 sites at various stages of redevelopment in Seoul, 370 of which are located within 35 "new towns," according to East Asia Daily. The city now plans to review all redevelopment plans in the city, especially those new town projects that have yet to break ground, to determine whether residents want them to move forward. Projects will be cancelled if more than 30 percent of landowners are opposed.
And as this report notes, many residents don’t want these projects to happen.
Gyeonggi Province, which has designated 23 districts since 2007, has been reeling in the face of developments such as the cancellation of district designations beginning last year, the fourth of the project. In September 2010, the designation lapsed for the Manan district in Ansan due to divisions among residents for and against the project, without any announcement having yet been made for the decision. This came in the wake of a similar situation with Geumjeong in Gunpo. Pyeongtaek is pursuing the cancellation of the Anjeong district, which is opposed by 80 percent of residents, while Osan is pushing to cancel all but three of its 19 zones through a referendum.
An estimated 48,000 Seoul homes were demolished in 2010 for redevelopment efforts, and only 22,000 new units have been rebuilt.
But now the government is hoping to prevent any more of these projects from turning into disasters. As community members align with each other to oppose these projects, the government had pledged to listen. But for those who’ve already lost their homes and have no replacement, the problems of Seoul’s new towns will remain for a long time.
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/housing/2012/02/seoul-ends-failed-new-towns-project/1149/
Last weekend, despite really freezing weather - for the third time in row - thousands of activists besieged Ssangyong Motor plant in Pyeongtaek (south of of the S. Korean capital Seoul). For almost 24 hours - from Saturday's early afternoon until Sunday - approx. 3000 workers, unionized in KCTU, and some activists of (student) solidarity groups joined the "3rd Weekend of Siege" (a 'mixture' of struggle rallies/demos, culture festival, solidarity bazaar and party zone) to support the "Tent of Hope Village" in front of SsangYong Motor company's main gate. Here just some impressions from the 'event':
Some more really impressive pics from the 'event' you can see here!
Related reports:
☞ 희망의 소금꽃 나무, 드디어 열매 맺다 (MediaCC, 2.12)
☞ "어두운 밤 밝히는 횃불처럼 희망의 투쟁 이어간다” (VoP, 2.12)
While our friend/comrade Park Jeong-geun(박정근) - indicted on the base of the notorious "Nat'l Security Law" for "serving the interest of the (North Korean) enemy" is still in pretrial detention - a (kind of) solidarity movement is currently "under construction"...
Last Friday's Korea Times reported that... "Twenty-three progressive groups have formed a committee calling for the release of a man arrested for reposting dozens of pro-North Korean messages via his Twitter account.
Members of the groups said Friday the arrest of Park Jeong-geun, 23, was an anachronistic measure, claiming the government mistook his parodies and jokes about former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il as praise for him.
Park, a photo studio operator, was indicted on charges of violating the National Security Law by retweeting about 100 messages posted on North Korea’s propaganda Twitter account, “Uriminjokkiri.”
“Park’s case showed how the law can be misused to suppress an individual’s political belief and the freedom of expression. This comedic incident shows the government’s rigid attitude toward satire,” a member of the Socialist Party said in a media briefing in central Seoul.
Park is an activist of the party.
The participating groups include Amnesty International Korea, the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, the Korea Alliance of Progressive Movements and Lawyers for a Democratic Society.
They said it is true Park posted many tweets regarding North Korea. “But his postings include a photo in which one of Park’s friends poses like a nude model in front of the former North Korean leader’s picture, and a painting in which a soldier’s smiling face on the North’s propaganda poster is changed into a tearful face. These were made to satirize the North Korean regime.”
Park used phrases like “Long live Kim Jong-il,” but they were also ironic expressions to criticize the North, they said.
“He is a member of the Socialist Party. This also shows he didn’t mean to praise North Korea because the party openly opposes North Korea’s Workers’ Party and criticized the country’s hereditary power succession over three generations,” the party member said.
The committee also applied for bail for park, and will hold a one-man rally in relays to call for his release and the abolishment of the National Security Law.
Park’s case is gaining international attention. Amnesty International recently issued a statement calling for his release."
Yesterday's K. Times reported that "Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon asked President Lee Myung-bak to grant a pardon to eight people convicted of violence during the clash between riot police and tenants over a redevelopment project in Yongsan, central Seoul, back in 2009. The city government said Park sent a written proposal to the President Tuesday, asking him to consider releasing the former tenants and labor activists who are currently in jail..."(*)
Today's Hankyoreh editorial demanded that "Yongsan victims deserve presidential pardon"!
JUSTICE & LIBERTY FOR THE "YONGSAN EIGHT"!!
* It seems that Seoul has - for the first time in history - a mayor who's not (only) interested in the wellbeing of the rich(i.e. the ruling class)... Instead he's (at least) trying to show/execute his responsibility for the "ordinary"(i.e. the poorer, but hardworking) citizens! Well, that's just my opinion... And I hope that's not only my wishful thinking!!
Last Month(1.11) we'd to learn that (according to a facebook source) "Our friend, photographer (social and political activist) Park Jeong-geun who has been inspected by the 'National Security Law', became under arrest by 'infringing the National Security Law' today, as accepting an arrest warrent. Jung-geun has been RETWEETING the twitter account @uriminzok (account from North Korea) and made some black humor of 'Viva la Kim...!"
Last Thursday NYT reported that the "South Korean prosecutors indicted a social media and freedom-of-speech activist this week for reposting messages from the North Korean government’s Twitter account..."
And today's (bourgeois/reactionary newspaper) JoongAng Ilbo published the following piece (*):
Sarcastic tweeter indicted for aiding the enemy
The prosecution of a 23-year-old Twitter user who reposted messages from a North Korean propaganda site has reignited a perennial controversy. Was he practicing his freedom of speech or was he serving the interest of the enemy?
Park Jung-geun, who runs a photo studio in Amsa-dong, eastern Seoul, was indicted Tuesday on charges of violating the National Security Law. According to the prosecution, Park, a member of the Socialist Party, retweeted messages posted on the Twitter account of the North’s official propaganda site, Uriminzokkiri.
It was the first time that the prosecution indicted a suspect for retweetting pro-North Korea messages.
Park is an active Twitter user, having posted tens of thousands of messages after creating his account three years ago. From December 2010 to late last year, Park retweeted 96 postings from the Uriminzokkiri account and posted 34 pro-North messages, the prosecution said.
All the messages retweeted from the North’s account praised Pyongyang, and Park’s own messages included arguments that were deemed in violation of the National Security Law.
“Dear eternal president [of the North], just order us and we will race to sweep the American imperialist enemies from this country,” Park wrote on Dec. 15, 2011. After the North’s shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, Park wrote, “This is why Seoul needs a nuclear attack.”
Park was arrested Jan. 11 for investigation, and prosecutors made the indictment with a pretrial detention of Park Tuesday. He was detained at the Suwon Detention Center and could face up to seven years of imprisonment.
Park and his lawyer argued the postings were meant to mock the North Korean regime. A member of the Socialist Party, Park said his party is critical of the North’s third-generation, dynastical power succession.
According to the prosecutors, it is rare for them to seek pretrial detention for a suspect charged with violating Article 7 of the National Security Law, which forbids the act of praising, inciting or propagating anti-state activities.
But the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office said it sought pretrial detention because Park continued to post and retweet allegedly anti-state messages even after the investigation began.
On Jan. 17, Park made public a letter addressed to President Lee Myung-bak saying, “My sexual desire was reduced after the law enforcement authorities’ raids and questioning.”
“It’s true that his postings were funny, but 80 of the 130 allegedly pro-North postings were made even after we began the probe,” a prosecution source said. “There was a concern that he would continue to do so. Taking into account his attitude and messages in the postings, he was well-aware that his actions benefit the enemy.”
A source at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office also said Twitter’s strong influence was taken into consideration. “Park was a famous Twitter user with 5,900 followers,” the source said. “There was an incident in which a middle school student retweeted one of his posts and also wrote a post to praise the North.”
Park and his lawyer said Park did not realize his actions were considered advantageous to the North. They said pretrial detention of Park was an excessive application of the law and violated his freedom of speech. They said they will prove Park’s innocence in court.
Amnesty International issued a statement Wednesday to demand the release of Park, calling the indictment “ludicrous.”
“This is not a national security case,” said Sam Zarifi, Asia-Pacific director of the human rights group. “It’s a sad case of the South Korean authorities’ complete failure to understand sarcasm.”
Today's protest against censorship and restrictions on democratic freedom in front of Seoul's Nat'l Assembly
* Related articles:
☞ Relaying pro-NK messages on Twitter causes stir (K. Times, 2.07)
☞ South Korean Indicted Over Twitter Posts From North (NYT, 2.02)
☞ South Korea must release activist charged over Kim Jong-il tweet (AI, 2.01)
Recently published pieces, related to the "fascinating" S.K. "democracy", ruled by the NSL:
☞ Military to screen all mobile apps (Korea Herald, 2.07)
☞ Questions behind true motivation for blocking of N. Korean websites (Hankyoreh, 2.06)
Last Friday(2.03) the (somehow famous^^) actor/director Robert Redford(U.S.A.) published in onearth magazine "The Battle for Jeju Island: How the Arms Race is Threatening a Korean Paradise", an essay to support the resistance movement, fighting against the planned naval base on S. Korea's Jeju Island... (*)
And only two days later onearth received the following "reply":
Republic of Korea(R.O.K) Navy's standpoint on Robert Redford's article "The Battle for Jeju Island: How the Arms Race is Threatening a Korean Paradise"
1. The R.O.K Navy extends our regard for your interest and passion on environmental issues. However, we would like to point out that your article only cites few opponents' arguments that are far from the truth.
2. First of all, as the Republic of Korea Government already expressed to the public many times, the Jeju Naval Base is being built for the security of R.O.K and has no relations to U.S. defense policy whatsoever.
3. The Jeju Naval Base has undergone each and every legal and administrative environmental procedure including the assessment of environmental impact. In this assessment of environmental impact, related specialists and the locals participated hand in hand. Furthermore, the R.O.K Navy continues to preserve the environment with utmost interest and effort.
4. Last but not least, the Jeju Naval Base is being built as an "eco-friendly civil-military scenic port" that leads harmony with the locals. The Jeju Naval Base will be a leading model concerning any possible environmental issue."
Possibly there's no comment necessary!!(^^)
* Related articles:
☞ Robert Redford cries out against Jeju naval base construction (K. Herald, 2.06)
☞ Robert Redford protests naval base plan on Jeju (Korea Times, 2.05)
Seoul's Metropolitan Gov't announced on Monday that it will re-evaluate its “New Town" projects through a series of feasibility studies that could ultimately determine their fate. During a press conference Seoul's Mayor Park Won-soon said that the city will hear from residents and landlords in 610 areas that have been designated for the project, which aims to create new residential areas after old ones are demolished(*).
Well, as I already said before: that's "possibly(??) a first step in the right direction"...
Today's Kyunghyang Shinmun wrote in its editorial the following:
Seoul's 'New Town' Policy's Concept and Direction Are Correct
Two days ago, Seoul City announced new policies for "New Towns" and development projects that change in an innovative way the existing framework for housing development.
This would change the system to one centered on residents, not land and house owners, and one centered on building communities and villages, not business value or total evictions.
Specifically, the city presented a plan that would lift the designations of the 610 of 1,300 designated new town, redevelopment or rebuilding zones where building plans have yet to be approved and instead push small-scale alternative rehabilitation projects, while strengthening support for places where plans are going well in order to enable them to proceed more quickly.
It also put forth residency right guarantee measures that included supplying public housing to tenants and others marginalized by housing refurbishment projects.
Seoul's new policy is praiseworthy in that it ends or reduces the great harm done by existing housing rehabilitation projects such as real estate speculation, mass production of evictees, rises in rent and the collapse of communities.
The problem is that there are many obstacles to Seoul's policies actually being carried out. This is because of the interests of local residents bitterly entwined in housing rehabilitation projects.
More than anything, the key to the success of the policy is the issue of dealing with sunk costs resulting from the lifting of the designation. In places designated redevelopment zones, local residents have already sunk much money into the projects no matter how little they may have actually progressed.
If Seoul lifts the designations now, it cannot but compensate the residents. Seoul has asked the central government for support, saying it cannot bear the costs given its financial condition, but the solution won't be easy. For the central government to support losses suffered in autonomous projects carried out by local residents requires amending laws and social agreements.
It won't be easy to relax amplified tensions, either, in cases where local residents' opinions differ, in the process of lifting designations.
As Mayor Park Won-soon said, the new policy is not a solution that will satisfy everyone. Still, we think that if it has fewer side-effects than the existing policy and is of a better direction, it's worth pushing somehow.
Seoul City must do its best to put the new policy into practice. If support from the government is necessary, the city shouldn't unilaterally announce the policy without sufficient prior negotiations with the government. It must persuade the government while it bows its head and begs.
The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs has already said accepting Seoul's request will be difficult. Seoul must keep in mind that if it pushes the new policy with only the justification that good things are good, the policy could flounder as even greater chaos is created. We call on Seoul to do its best.
http://english.khan.co.kr/khan_art_view.html?artid=201202011508577&code=790101
* Related articles:
☞ New Town projects crumbling (Korea Times, 1.30)
☞ 박원순 "서울시 뉴타운사업 610곳 재검토" (views&news, 1.30)
☞ City to re-evaluate its ‘new town’ developments (JoongAng Ilbo, 1.31)
Now the S. Korean ruling class wants to retaliate (according to yesterday's K. Times):
18-month prison term sought for female labor activist
The prosecution has sought an 18-month prison term for Kim Jin-suk, a labor activist who staged a sit-in on a giant crane in the shipyard of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction in Busan for 309 days, on charges of interfering with business.
In a hearing at Busan District Court, Tuesday, prosecutors asked the court to hand down the jail term to Kim, who pled guilty.
“By holding the long-term protest, Kim paralyzed the company’s business, disgraced the firm’s image and created a bad precedent that a person can act illegally to attain their purpose. We want the ruling to show those committing illegal acts should take responsibility,” a prosecutor said.
“The strike at Hanjin Heavy was protracted and became a nationwide issue. Outsiders on Hope Buses also intervened and their actions caused extended chaos in Busan,” he said.
Kim admitted to the accusations but claimed her acts were justifiable in a two-page final statement.
“A company should keep agreements with laborers but Hanjin Heavy failed to do so often. Those not keeping promises should be punished first, then justice can be realized,” said the 51-year-old in a working uniform.
“The suppression of Hope Bus rallies was too harsh. The movement was a social demonstration to prevent a massive layoff, to protect laborers who were abandoned by society,” she said.
Kim was indicted without physical detention on charges of interfering with the company’s business by staging a sit-in inside the operator’s cabin of a 35-meter-high giant crane from Jan. 6 to Nov. 10 last year to protest a massive layoff.
The verdict will be delivered on Feb. 16.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/01/117_103866.html
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