I am an editorial writer at The Korea Times, focusing on foreign policy, North Korea and domestic politics. My key areas of interest include North Korea, foreign interference in elections, election integrity, cyberattacks and human rights. Prior to joining the Editorial Board, I served as both Politics Desk editor and Culture Desk editor. During my career, I have reported on the Presidential Office under the Lee Myung-bak administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Assembly.
Gimpo residents care less about partisan politics, more about property boom
People attend a town hall meeting in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Mayor of Gimpo Kim Byung-soo (not seen in this photo) gave a presentation to city residents about the megacity plan and its envisaged benefits. Yonhap
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Locals say investment in infrastructure will make for more convenient living if megacity plan is implemented
GIMPO, Gyeonggi Province — A 59-year-old hairdresser, who owned a hair shop in Gimpo’s old town of Sau-dong, said she is a staunch supporter of the proposal to annex the western city to Seoul metropolitan city.
“I don’t care about the political orientations of politicians. I don’t care which party they are affiliated with. But I do care whether they support the plan to make Gimpo part of Seoul or not,” she told The Korea Times on Thursday, asking not to be named for privacy reasons. “In the elections next year, I will vote for a candidate who pushes for it.”
And she has every reason to support the megacity proposal.
Born and raised in the city, the Gimpo native is an owner of farmland in two different locations — one in the northern part of the city and the other near her hair salon. Like many other residents, she hopes that another property boom will follow if the megacity plan is implemented.
If Gimpo becomes part of Seoul, she said that things will change a lot and several inconveniences that she is currently experiencing will be solved.
“There is no university hospital here, so people with serious illnesses have no choice but to seek treatment in neighboring cities, like Goyang or Seoul,” she said, noting that she has to travel to Severance Hospital in western Seoul to receive medical treatment. “We have no big shopping malls in this city, either. This is ridiculous. Our neighboring city Goyang has several university hospitals and department stores.”
She revealed her hope that city authorities will make big investments to upgrade infrastructure facilities in the event that Gimpo is designated as part of Seoul.
Her concerns for her adult son are another compelling reason for her support of the megacity plan.
Her 29-year-old son specializes in IT and works at a company in an affluent area of southern Seoul. As a commuter, he takes the notorious Gimpo Goldline on weekdays. Every morning, she said, her son crams into the overcrowded cars of this light metro line.
“He told me not to take the train, saying he was afraid a short person like me could suffocate during the morning rush hour because of all the passengers squeezed in uncomfortably,” she said.
She said her son “risks his life” every morning to commute between his home in Gimpo and workplace in Seoul, adding she is afraid of a tragedy similar to the Itaewon Halloween crowd crush of 2022 occurring on the overcrowded metro line.
Two banners hung in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday, show that the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) are pitted against each other over a megacity plan aimed to incorporate Gimpo into Seoul. Ahead of the National Assembly elections to be held in April next year, the PPP is pushing for implementation of the megacity plan, whereas the DPK is urging the ruling party to scrap the proposal, which it claims is "populist" in nature. Korea Times photo by Kang Hyun-kyung
The megacity plan, pushed by the ruling People Power Party (PPP), has become a political football in the National Assembly, pitting the PPP against opposition parties.
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) calls the proposal "a populist policy" which popped up out of the blue to curry favor with voters in the greater Seoul area ahead of the National Assembly elections to be held in April next year.
The DPK urged the ruling party to stop pushing ahead with the plan.
DPK leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung claimed the megacity plan would do a disservice to “balanced development” of the nation as it aims to further expand Seoul which is “already gigantic.”
The ruling party’s megacity proposal also drew criticism from within.
Mayor of Incheon Yoo Jeong-bok, who successfully ran in the 2022 local elections on the PPP’s ticket, criticized the plan publicly during a press conference earlier this week. “The plan to incorporate Gimpo into Seoul is simply unfeasible. It’s fictitious,” he said, calling it an unfeasible, populist idea showing the ruling party's ignorance of the consequences. He accused the PPP of being irresponsible.
Yoo served as mayor of Gimpo and represented the people of the city as a third-term lawmaker before he became the Incheon mayor.
His criticism came amid speculations that Incheon Metropolitan City was seeking to incorporate part of Gimpo.
But the ruling PPP isn't backing down and has launched a task force committee to push for the megacity project. Rep. Cho Kyoung-tae, chairman of the committee, fired back at the Incheon mayor, urging him to look at the plan in the long term and see the greater benefits for the entire nation, before criticizing it.
'Nothing to lose'
Locals, however, are unfazed by partisan politics. Many Gimpo residents have revealed excitement about the megacity plan, according to a realtor.
“People who had posted their homes or real estate for sale changed their minds and chose to wait and see what happens,” the realtor said on condition of anonymity. “I think many expect home and property prices to go up. There seems to be a consensus among local residents that they have nothing to lose if their city becomes part of Seoul.”
Stretching over 276,606 square meters to the west of the capital, Gimpo also neighbors the cities of Paju, Goyang and Incheon.
The city has already seen a property boom over the past two decades as several new housing districts have been designated one after another and numerous apartments were constructed. Its skyline has changed a lot as its once agricultural areas have transformed into modern housing districts.
The population of the city has grown fast, with the influx of new residents resulting in demographic changes. The city residents that were not born in Gimpo outnumber those born in the city, and the average age of citizens has become younger with the surge of young parents with school-age children.
Most of the new residents moved to the city due to lower housing prices.
The megacity plan was originally initiated by Gimpo Mayor Kim Byung-soo.
He touted it as a win-win plan that would benefit the residents of both Gimpo and Seoul.
"Gimpo is a huge city, about half the area of Seoul," he said during a town hall meeting held on Tuesday.
“Seoul has almost no area left for development. But this is not the case for Gimpo. About 60 percent of the city is available for development,” he said.
If municipal annexation is implemented, he said, Seoul will be able to have a population of more than 10 million again and prevent the closure of elementary schools. He noted Gimpo is a young city with lots of young parents with school-age children.
Kim said Gimpo can help Seoul become a world-class city.
“Most world-class cities have harbors in their territory, but Seoul doesn’t. Gimpo is near the West Sea and you can develop a big harbor here,” he said, promoting the geographical advantage of the city that he believes could make the plan work.