Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Seoul approves Hyundai Motor’s revised headquarters plan
A rendering of Hyundai Motor's Global Business Complex in southern Seoul / Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government
By Jung Min-ho
COEX‑area complex to add parks, exhibition hall, 1,800‑seat theater
Seoul city officials have approved a redesign of Hyundai Motor’s planned headquarters in the southern part of the capital, reviving a project that had been mired in delays by setting a new 2031 completion target and replacing the original single-tower plan with three separate buildings.
Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on Tuesday that negotiations triggered by the company’s request to alter the original plan wrapped up on Dec. 30, clearing procedural hurdles that had kept the Global Business Complex (GBC) project in limbo.
The development on the former Korea Electric Power Corporation site near COEX was originally envisioned as a single 105-story “super tall” tower that would house offices, a hotel and cultural facilities. But objections from the military over potential interference with operations, combined with changing market conditions, pushed Hyundai to abandon the plan in favor of slimmer and shorter office towers.
The negotiations resulted in an agreement that allows for three buildings on the 79,341 square meter plot, each 49 stories and about 242 meters high, Kim Chang-kyu, chief of the city office’s balanced development bureau, said.
“Through this additional round of negotiations, plans were made to create a new landmark on the core site of the International Exchange Complex District, significantly expanding public leisure spaces such as a large urban forest, exhibitions and cultural facilities, as well as rooftop gardens,” he said. “The long‑stalled GBC development will be fast‑tracked and completed as a new driving force for the city’s growth and a symbolic space that can represent Seoul.”
A rendering of the rooftop garden at the Hyundai Motor Global Business Complex in southern Seoul / Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government
Under the new plan, the street-level area will operate as a cultural space, with exhibition halls and performance venues accessible to the public, and will be capped by a roughly 15,000-square-meter rooftop garden about 40 meters above street level.
Additionally, Hyundai plans to carve out an “urban forest” connecting Yeongdong-daero to a ground-level plaza through 14,000 square meters of contiguous parkland. When completed, this green space will be bigger than the 13,200 square meter Seoul Plaza in front of City Hall in central Seoul.
A rendering of the exhibition hall at the Hyundai Motor Global Business Complex in southern Seoul / Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government
An exhibition hall will be developed in partnership with leading global science museums to provide interactive, hands-on programming, while also serving as a flexible venue for a wide range of exhibitions and conferences, city officials said.
The performance venue, designed with some 1,800 seats, will be capable of hosting classical music concerts, operas and large-scale musicals, positioning it as a major new cultural stage.
Under the deal with the city government, the company pledged to raise the project’s public contribution package from approximately 1.75 trillion won ($1.2 billion) to more than 1.98 trillion won, which will be used to build the parks and public event venues and to improve nearby infrastructure.
Those contributions are already being funneled into infrastructure work such as a multi-level underground development beneath Yeongdong-daero, the remodeling of Jamsil Main Stadium and road projects around Samseong Station.
The GBC project remains at an early stage, with its current construction progress estimated at just 5.6 percent. City officials say the scale of the future investment, which totals 5.24 trillion won in construction costs alone, will help economically invigorate the building sector.
The city government estimates that the project’s long-term economic footprint will extend far beyond the construction site. Over a 26-year period, including one year for permits, five years for construction and the first 20 years of operation, the GBC is projected to generate some 513 trillion won, including 18 trillion won during the building phase and 495 trillion won once the complex is up and running, according to city officials.
Officials also forecast that the project will support about 1.46 million jobs over that period and spur more than 70 trillion won in income.