Translation result.
A dispute has intensified between Democratic Party gubernatorial hopeful Woo Sang-ho and Gangwon Province over the construction of a new provincial government office.
At a March 15 press conference at the Democratic Party’s Gangwon office in Chuncheon, Woo said he would respect the decision to build the new provincial office at Goeun-ri for the sake of administrative continuity. He warned, however, that financing the project by relying on apartment pre-sales would be a dangerous gamble that effectively uses residents as collateral.
Woo noted that Chuncheon already has roughly 22,660 housing units under development and argued that adding another 4,700 units to raise construction funds would be unrealistic under normal market conditions.
He warned that, if pre-sales fail, the resulting debt—ranging from several hundred billion KRW (several hundred million USD) up to 1.4 trillion KRW (approximately 1.05 billion USD)—could fall squarely on residents, and he said he would not allow the Gangwon provincial government to be dragged into a debt trap.
Woo also sharply criticized the groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for March 30.
He said the province has not yet selected a contractor or filed a construction-start notice, and he called holding a groundbreaking under those circumstances a political show that misleads residents ahead of the election—a “fake” groundbreaking.
He urged officials to suspend the current plans for the new office and the administrative-complex project and to develop a reasonable financing plan.
Gangwon Province issued a statement the same day, refuting Woo’s assertions as factually incorrect.
The province said the project is being funded entirely by the provincial office-building fund and denied claims that apartment pre-sale revenue will cover construction costs.
It added that the move to Goeun-ri followed proper procedures, including a site-selection committee decision, a central investment review, approval by the provincial council, and consultations with Chuncheon City, and that a building permit was issued on March 6.
Responding to the “fake” groundbreaking allegation, the province said the March 30 event will mark the start of infrastructure work—site preparation and access-road construction—and emphasized that the project will proceed in stages, with infrastructure work in the first half of the year and building construction in the second half.
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