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By Kim Eun-jung

SEOUL, Aug. 19 (Yonhap) -- Land Minister Kim Yun-duk said Wednesday the government is considering using parts of Yongsan Park that have already lost some of their function as green spaces for limited housing development.

Kim dismissed concerns that the government plans to turn the central Seoul park into a massive public housing development as part of efforts to increase housing supply in the capital.

The park, mostly located on land returned from the former U.S. military garrison, spans about 3 million square meters, equivalent to roughly 420 football fields.

"It is not true that the government is pushing to build houses by bulldozing green areas in Yongsan Park," Kim said during a parliamentary committee meeting at the National Assembly.

Kim said the government is reviewing sites within or around the park that have already been developed or used for other purposes, citing former officers' residences, military housing and the former site of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration.

Regarding the possible use of greenbelt areas for housing, Kim said the government could consider areas that have already lost much of their environmental value, while preserving green spaces that need protection.

Kim said he plans to discuss the proposal Thursday with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who has openly opposed developing green areas in central Seoul for housing.

The government's housing plan calls for supplying more than 230,000 additional homes in the Seoul metropolitan area by accelerating development on public land, easing some greenbelt restrictions and supporting private-sector projects.

Meanwhile, around 200 residents gathered at a park in Yongsan, according to an unofficial police estimate, calling on the government to withdraw its plan.

"Yongsan Park should be established as a full-fledged national park, not as a site for apartment buildings," a group of residents fighting to preserve the park said during a press conference.

The issue also sparked partisan wrangling during a meeting of the National Assembly's land, infrastructure and transport committee, with lawmakers of the main opposition People Power Party accusing the government of reversing President Lee Jae Myung's campaign pledge.

"It was President Lee Jae Myung who pledged to turn Yongsan Park into a public space for citizens like New York's Central Park," Rep. Kim Eun-hye said. "Even that campaign pledge is being reversed."

Ruling party lawmakers argued that the government was considering housing development only in areas deemed unsuitable for use as parks.

ejkim@yna.co.kr

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