Seoul Challenges JYP’s Account of Canceled Godeok Headquarters Project

Seoul Metropolitan Government has challenged JYP Entertainment’s account of why it abandoned plans for a new headquarters in Godeok, adding a competing official version of the dispute one day after the company confirmed the project’s cancellation.

JYP said on October 8 that it first became aware in April 2026 that land in front of its planned headquarters site had been changed from parkland to a development-use designation. The company said it subsequently held repeated discussions with Seoul Housing & Communities Corporation, or SH, and Gangdong District in an effort to keep the project alive.

JYP said an August 31 response from SH maintained that the land-use change had followed proper procedure and that restoring the site to parkland was not possible. The company said the change had altered a fundamental condition of the headquarters project and that, after reviewing its options, it decided construction could no longer proceed. JYP instead plans to acquire additional property near its existing headquarters in Seongnae-dong.

Seoul pushed back on that framing on October 9.

In an explanatory statement, the city said the possibility of changes to surrounding land-use plans had been disclosed in the original September 2023 sale conditions. Seoul said the park site was formally redesignated on October 24, 2025, before JYP applied for architectural review on November 11.

According to the city, JYP continued through the permitting process and received a building permit on April 15, 2026. Seoul says the company made its first formal objection to the neighboring land-use change the following day, April 16.

That timeline conflicts with the impression created by JYP’s statement that the company only became aware of the change in April and then began trying to preserve the project.

Seoul also disputes the suggestion that discussions had reached an impasse.

The city says SH had proposed keeping the affected frontage at five stories or lower if JYP wanted the area in front of the headquarters kept more open. Seoul says JYP indicated on October 6 that it wanted another meeting with SH on October 13, but announced its withdrawal two days later while those discussions were still pending.

The city characterized the suggestion that SH was solely responsible for the collapse of the project as misleading and called on JYP to clarify its position.

Those statements represent Seoul’s account of the dispute and have not been independently established as findings against JYP. JYP’s October 8 statement likewise remains the company’s account of why the changed surroundings made the headquarters project unworkable.

What is no longer in dispute is the outcome: JYP has abandoned the Godeok headquarters plan and intends to reinforce its existing Seongnae-dong base by purchasing nearby buildings.