"‘Impeach Moon Jae-in,’ ‘Democratic Party is a Dictatorship’... Angry Real Estate Public Sentiment 'Boiling Over'"

"Is the country yours?", "Withdraw support for Moon Jae-in"... 'Real-time Search Challenge' in progress
"Anger over real estate policy" Candlelight rally against Moon's real estate measures

Photo by Naver Cafe '6·17 Regulation Retroactive Application Victims Relief Meeting' Capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] As online protests by citizens opposing the Moon Jae-in administration's real estate regulations intensify, the keyword "Democratic Party dictatorship" appeared on the 29th. Netizens have been carrying out a "real-time search word (silgeom) challenge," exposing specific keywords such as "Is the country yours?" and "Dismiss Moon Jae-in" at the top of portal site real-time search rankings for nearly a month. Some citizens have also expressed their anger toward the government by holding large-scale offline rallies.

As of 3 p.m. that day, major domestic portal site Naver showed keywords like "Dismiss Moon Jae-in" and "Democratic Party dictatorship" among the top search terms. The netizens leading the "silgeom challenge" are members of Naver cafes such as "617 Regulation Retroactive Application Victims Relief Meeting."

The cafe representatives criticized, "Is the Democratic Party, which is supposed to represent the people and oversee the executive branch, truly fulfilling that role?" and added, "Far from representing the people, is the Democratic Party acting as henchmen and collaborators of the dictator Moon Jae-in, becoming the front for oppressing the people?"

They continued, "The 176 collaborators from the People's Armed Forces and Propaganda Departments, who have become the vicious dogs of Moon Jae-in, the dictator, once again acted as his rubber stamp today, passing oppressive dictatorship laws by force," and stated, "Now is the time to shout for the overthrow of dictatorship."

Previously, they had also succeeded in placing the keyword "Dismiss Moon Jae-in" at the top of search rankings. The cafe claimed, "The respondent President Moon Jae-in is the cause of the worst real estate disaster among all presidents in South Korea's history. Instead of fulfilling his duty to protect the people's property rights, he has committed unconstitutional and dictatorial atrocities that go beyond plundering and confiscating the people's property, approaching the level of national property seizure."

This silgeom challenge began on the 1st of this month. Previously, keywords such as ▲Minister Kim Hyun-mi lies ▲3040 deceived by Moon Jae-in ▲617 Sindorim Station rally ▲617 unconstitutional tears of the common people ▲Withdrawal of support for Moon Jae-in ▲Retroactive unconstitutionality corrupt government ▲Ministry of Land audit request ▲Non-discriminatory retroactive repeal ▲Tax resistance national movement were used in the silgeom challenge.

On the afternoon of the 25th, participants of the "Candlelight Rally Against the Overuse of Retroactive Real Estate Regulation Policies, Nationwide Tax Resistance Movement" held in front of the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation in Jung-gu, Seoul, are holding candles. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Offline, citizens' protests against the Moon administration's real estate measures continued. On the 25th, members of several real estate online cafes, including the "6·17 Regulation Retroactive Application Victims Relief Meeting" and the "Opposition Committee to the Lease 3 Laws," held an offline rally in front of the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation in Jung-gu, Seoul, protesting the government's real estate policies. Approximately 5,000 people (according to the rally organizers) attended the event.

At the rally, a citizen took the podium and said, "In a free market economy, why is it illegal and a deep-rooted evil for someone to buy a house with their own hard-earned money and receive monthly rent?" and "You (the government and ruling party) are the ones who speculated, not us."

He continued, "When I tried to move near a university hospital because of a child born with a congenital illness and bought an apartment pre-sale right, there were no restrictions, but suddenly it became a regulated area," and added, "In the region where I live, real estate transactions have disappeared, so I can't even dispose of property, and when I try to lease it, I have to pay acquisition tax amounting to tens of millions of won."

After each speech, participants holding placards shouted slogans such as "Are only tenants citizens? Landlords are citizens too," "It's a fine, not a tax," and "President, step down."

Meanwhile, the so-called "Lease 3 Laws," promoted by the Democratic Party to protect tenants, passed the National Assembly's standing committee on the 29th. The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee held a plenary meeting that day and processed amendments to the Housing Lease Protection Act and the Commercial Building Lease Protection Act, which constitute the Lease 3 Laws.

The amendments guarantee tenants a "2+2 year" lease, allowing them to extend their existing 2-year contract by an additional 2 years. They also include provisions for local governments to set caps on rent increases through ordinances, limiting the increase to within 5% of the previous contract rent.