Reporter’s Notebook: The Shadow of the Gwacheon Racecourse Park Relocation

Anyone who has ridden a horse knows this: if you gently place your hand on its neck, the animal shivers. I felt the same on the way to Gwacheon Racecourse Park. Watching the horses thunder past with someone I was still getting to know, I could not tell whether it was the horses that were racing, or my heart. When I glanced at the big electronic screen and saw the horses’ large eyes, I was probably not thinking only about the race. I remember children clapping in the paddock as they watched the racehorses being checked, and adults putting a finger to their lips and laughing along with them. All of those memories could be brought back at the racecourse. When I look at a "9,800-unit apartment complex," I wonder where my memories are supposed to run to.
The racecourse park became a candidate site for new housing because the land is owned by a public institution. Unlike privately owned land, the government can skip complicated steps such as compensation and expropriation. It is also hard to pour massive public funds into private land in the Seoul metropolitan area, which has become a hotbed of speculation. On top of that, there were likely political and emotional calculations. People see the Korea Racing Authority (KRA) as offering a "job for life," and they hold prejudices about the gambling industry, as well as a sense of relative class hierarchy toward the wealthy homeowners benefiting from redevelopment in Gwacheon. The thinking may have been that even if people who are doing relatively well take a hit, the government should build more public housing for the many. In fact, Gwacheon City has a green coverage ratio of 86.8 percent, higher than the averages for Gyeonggi Province (75.3 percent) and Seoul (38.6 percent). It is a good place to live, with plenty of open space.
I can understand a policy decision that appears rational. What worries me, however, is the vulnerable workers who are being left behind by this breathless drive to increase housing supply. The policy is aimed at "jobs for life" and the "newly rich" of Gwacheon, but within its blast radius are non-regular workers. At the KRA’s Gwacheon racecourse, many more people work there in addition to 671 regular staff. There are 917 racing support staff, who are part-time permanent workers employed two days a week, and 405 cleaning staff employed by a subsidiary, many of them in their 50s and 60s. On top of that, 1,044 horse grooms and other racing-related workers face high accident rates and precarious employment.
Numbers as clear as 9,800 housing units carry great weight. In contrast, values that cannot be seen or touched are weak. The history of the racecourse park, which began in 1989, and the working conditions of vulnerable employees are easily overlooked in policy decisions. For example, racing support staff earn a daily wage of about 100,000 won. Most are in their 40s and 50s, and 60.5 percent are women. Horse grooms work at dawn, in line with the horses’ biorhythms and training schedules. If the facility is moved to the outskirts of the metropolitan area, what will their commute look like. And how will students in equine-related programs—only six high schools and seven universities nationwide—feel about losing the only workplace in Seoul. Will the first-ever horse welfare plan announced last year by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) really be followed through. The countless decisions tied up with relocating the racecourse park are as scattered and confusing as betting slips strewn across the floor.
junjun@fnnews.com Reporter