Housing plan threatens to hamstring Korea's horse racing industry, groups warn

A government plan to build 9,800 homes on the site of LetsRun Park Seoul in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, is colliding with the horse racing industry, with racing groups saying the nation's largest racetrack cannot be relocated on the proposed timetable until the government settles who will pay, where the horses will go and whether racing could safely continue.

The government announced on Jan. 29 that it would redevelop the racetrack along with the neighboring site of the former Defense Counterintelligence Command.

The plan initially called for moving the racing facilities first, with a relocation plan drawn up by mid-year and construction to follow in 2030.

However, a housing package published on Aug. 13 reversed the order. It called for relocating the Sampo stables to Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, so housing construction could begin on the site before the rest of the racetrack was moved. It also set a September deadline for selecting a replacement site and moved the start of construction up to 2029.

Ten groups representing racehorse breeders, owners, trainers, jockeys and stable workers have formed an emergency committee to oppose that sequence.

They put the number of people working in racing and the wider horse industry at about 24,000, adding that the industry in Korea dates back 105 years.

"A rushed relocation puts the survival of a racing industry built over 105 years at risk," the committee said on Aug. 28.

The cost 

Industry groups put the cost of moving the racetrack at about 2.4 trillion won ($1.8 billion) and say the final bill could surpass 3 trillion won once work begins.

"Nobody has been able to tell us where the money to relocate the racetrack will come from — not the Agriculture Ministry, not the Land Ministry, not Gyeonggi,” a committee official said.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs says the figure cannot yet be fixed.

“Relocation costs can only be calculated once the land is sold and a replacement site is purchased,” an Agriculture Ministry official said. “The ministries have agreed in principle that the government will provide support if the relocation funds fall short.”

The timetable 

The Hwaong district in Hwaseong, where the Sampo stables would be located, is subject to development restrictions tied to nearby migratory bird habitats, and approvals for the replacement facilities have not been completed.

"Hwaong is leveled ground and nothing more at the moment. There is no track," the committee official said. "The stables there are due to be finished in 2031, but we are being told to empty the Sampo stables by 2028."

The Korea Racing Authority (KRA), which operates LetsRun Park Seoul, has told the government that the racetrack move needs far more time than the housing schedule allows. In an implementation plan submitted to the Agriculture Ministry in July, the KRA estimated that a full relocation would take at least 16 years and nine months.

Securing a replacement site alone would take at least six years and six months on that estimate, which would put it beyond 2032, and more than 10 years would pass before construction of a new racetrack began. The government wants housing construction to be underway in 2029.

The Agriculture Ministry said the KRA’s estimates are its own and that it intends to proceed with the relocation while coordinating support with other government bodies. It says it will consult the racing authority to ensure the facilities at Hwaong are ready for the horses by 2028.

The horses 

The KRA says about 700 horses live at stables in Juam and another 600 live at stables in Sampo. The government's plan would move one group and leave the other beside a construction site.

"Racehorses are extremely sensitive animals,” a committee source said. “Under the government's plan, half of them move and half stay in stables next to a construction site and train there.”

He said the plan was unacceptable "considering the safety of the jockeys, trainers and the horses."

The Agriculture Ministry says the layout of the Gwacheon site limits that risk.

"The area where the construction would begin sits on the far side of a hill from the racetrack," a ministry official said. "We will take measures so that safety problems do not arise."

What the industry wants 

The committee wants the government to secure funding and infrastructure before any relocation begins. It also wants measures protecting jobs and livelihoods in the horse industry and an open process to select a new racetrack site.

The committee said the government's relocation schedule is set around a predetermined deadline and does not account for relocation times.

"With its survival under threat, the racing world will come together and begin a fight against the government," the committee said on Aug 28.

The 10 groups formalized their opposition at a press conference outside the National Assembly on Aug. 28. Main opposition People Power Party lawmakers Kim Eun-hye and Yoon Yong-geun and local party official Choe Gi-sik spoke in support of the group.

“More housing is needed to improve housing stability for young people and ordinary households, but it should not undermine the future of the racing and horse industries,” they said.

The government has treated the racetrack as part of a broader push to open up well-situated land for housing in the capital area. Horse racing groups say the redevelopment cannot get ahead of a much harder task: finding somewhere for the stables, tracks, workers and horses to go.

BY LEE HAY-JUNE [[email protected]]