North Korea: "South Korea's Housing Price Surge Is Due to the Future United Party"

Designation of Real Estate Three Acts in 2014

North Korea claims that the recent surge in real estate prices in South Korea is due to the 'Real Estate 3 Acts' led by the Saenuri Party, the predecessor of the United Future Party.

On the 3rd, North Korea's external propaganda outlet Meari, in an article titled "Two Causes of Real Estate Market Deterioration," referred to the Real Estate 3 Acts (Amendment to the Housing Act, Amendment to the Act on the Recovery of Excessive Profits from Reconstruction, Amendment to the Urban and Residential Environment Improvement Act) promoted in 2014 by the Park Geun-hye administration and the ruling Saenuri Party as the "Real Estate Market Disruption Acts."

The outlet further claimed, "Due to these unethical preferential laws and extreme 'Real Estate Market Disruption Acts,' the already precarious South Korean real estate market was swept up in a wave of rising housing prices originating from Gangnam starting in 2015, causing the wallets of the wealthy and speculative investors to grow exponentially while the hardships of the homeless common people reached the sky's end."

The current government's missteps were also pointed out as causes of the real estate price surge. Meari stated, "The current ruling power in South Korea initially boasted as if they would change the world, but looking at it now, they have done nothing properly in either the economy or people's livelihoods," adding, "The real estate issue is no different."

It continued, "They have diligently issued so-called real estate market stabilization measures to the extent that one can hardly remember them all, but there have been no results, and instead, they have only received public criticism that these measures further unsettle the real estate market sentiment," and "It is presumed that their real estate policies were more focused on publicity effects and subjective desires rather than the stability of people's livelihoods."

Meanwhile, the government and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea have also raised their voices, claiming that the cause of the real estate price surge lies in the Real Estate 3 Acts. On the 3rd, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Hong Nam-ki appeared at the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee's plenary session and said, "I think the 2014 'Real Estate 3 Acts' measures have influenced the current real estate market."

On the 29th of last month, Floor Leader Kim Tae-nyeon said at the Supreme Council meeting, "The Real Estate 3 Acts led by the Saenuri Party in 2014 caused the surge in the apartment housing market," adding, "The United Future Party cannot be free from responsibility for the overheating of the real estate market either."

Criticism has also been raised that such claims are an attempt to find a misplaced scapegoat. On the 3rd, Joo Jin-hyung, Supreme Council member of the Open Democratic Party, said, "Isn't this an attempt to divert public dissatisfaction to the wrong place and make a scapegoat because public backlash is growing?"

In an interview on KBS Radio's "Kim Kyung-rae's Strongest Current Affairs" that day, he questioned, "What grounds are there to say that the law enacted at the end of 2014 is the main culprit of the surge?" and "If that was the problem, efforts should have been made in the National Assembly over the past three years to amend it, so why suddenly bring up this issue now?" He added, "I think progressive figures aligned with the pro-government camp are blindly following along."