No More Housing Officetels from Next Year

The government is pushing a plan to reduce the percentage of space that living equipment should occupy in an officetel (office+hotel) from 50 percent to 30 percent, starting from the beginning of 2004 at the earliest.

According to the Ministry of Construction and Transportation on December 8, the Regulatory Reform Committee (RRC) is advocating the plan to reform the standard for officetel construction with such an outline. RRC plans to confirm a government bill after discussing it in the plenary session scheduled at the end of this month, and the Ministry of Construction and Transportation expects it will be in operation starting from the beginning of 2004 at the earliest.

According to RRC, the ratio of the spaces that equipment for working and for living occupy in an office area will be changed to “seven to three” from the current status of “five to five.”

The size of the bathroom will be limited to less than 3m² and more than one will not be allowed. Even a bath cannot be installed in a bath room.

Moreover, an ondol (Korean floor heater) or hot-water-operating ondol cannot be installed, and the height of a room will be limited to no higher than 3.3 meters.

According to this, construction of an officetel, whose function for housing is reinforced with a brand name such as “oneroomtel” or “apartel,” will be practically impossible.

In regard to this, the Ministry of Construction and Transportation explained that RRC took such an action because housing officetels, which are different from the original purpose, caused confusion in the building utilization and the plan for land utilization and also lead to an insufficiency of parking spaces.

Considering the increasing demand for houses for the unmarried, it revealed that from next year, it will develop various types of house such as houses for stay-at-home workers and for senior citizens and houses in the downtown area as substitutes for officetels, and that it will arrange a way of supply which is free from complicated regulations.

Jae-Seong Hwang Chang-Won Kim jsonhng@donga.com changkim@donga.com