Landscaping rocks worth $1.3 mil. rattle residents at new Seoul apartment complex

One of the landscaping rocks being unloaded from a truck at a new apartment complex in Imun-dong, Dongdaemun District, Seoul. Screenshot from Naver Cafe

A large new apartment complex in Imun-dong, Dongdaemun District, Seoul, has become the center of controversy after massive landscaping stones were installed without prior notice to or consensus from many residents.

The installations, which began on Friday, sparked a wave of online backlash, with critics questioning both the aesthetic value and the decision-making process behind the project.

The apartment complex, home to over 3,000 households and newly occupied earlier this year, began removing trees and grass to make way for the decorative stones.

Photos circulating online show boulders larger than an average adult, with the name of the apartment inscribed in a large, old-style Korean font. Trucks and excavators were used to transport and position the stones.

A post on the professional community app Blind, written by someone claiming to be a resident, drew widespread attention. The post included multiple images of the stone installation and accused the apartment redevelopment association’s leadership of acting unilaterally.

“Without any notification or consent from residents, the head of the union and their associates dragged in these grotesque rocks and tore out perfectly fine landscaping,” the resident wrote. “I heard each stone costs about 60 million won ($44,000), and they’ve reportedly signed a contract to install 30 of them for 1.8 billion won ($1.3 million).”

Landscaping rock installed at a new apartment complex in Imun-dong, Dongdaemun District, Seoul. Captured from Blind

The controversy quickly spread across social media and online communities, with the apartment trending on property apps like Hogangnono and generating more than 2,700 comments.

Public reactions ranged from dismay to sarcasm. “Nobody doesn’t know the name of this apartment. Why carve it into giant rocks?” one comment read. Others wrote, “Why replace beautiful landscaping with boulders?” and “I hope the association resolves this through communication.” A minority, however, expressed support for the stones, with comments like, “They don’t look that bad to me.”

According to Yonhap News, the redevelopment union behind the project planned to formally present the stone installation as a 2 billion won proposal involving over 30 boulders at a general assembly meeting scheduled for May 28.

However, with three stones already installed ahead of the vote, tensions among residents flared. One resident said, “They pulled out well-designed landscaping and replaced it with these stones. People are asking, ‘Is this a tombstone?’ or ‘Are we back in the 1980s?’”

Some union members have raised questions about the background of the landscaping project, while the redevelopment association maintains that there are also residents who favor the stones and insists the installation is legitimate.

The incident highlights ongoing friction between resident groups and redevelopment committees in large housing complexes, especially when costly aesthetic projects are launched without transparent consultation.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, a sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.