You and I Both Tenants... The 'Yoon Hee-sook Effect' That Changed the National Assembly

Yong Hye-in: "Please Become a Representative of the People, Not Just Gangnam's 3 Districts"
Jang Kyung-tae: "The Dream of Owning a Home Is Not Bank Loans or Gap Investment"
Kim Seon-kyo: "The Democratic Party Kicked Away the Ladder for Ordinary People"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] As Rep. Yoon Hee-sook of the United Future Party’s speech became a hot topic, confessions of “Everyone is a tenant” poured out from both ruling and opposition party members in the National Assembly plenary session on the 4th. Especially among the pro-government camp, young lawmakers took the floor as proponents, drawing attention.

Rep. Yong Hye-in of the Basic Income Party opened with the exact same phrase as Rep. Yoon, saying, “I am a tenant.” Rep. Yong said, “I am in my third year of marriage, living with my husband in a villa in Eunpyeong with a newlywed couple’s jeonse loan,” emphasizing, “The start of solving real estate inequality must begin with controlling housing prices.”

Rep. Yong pointed at the United Future Party members, asking, “Who are the people suffering from this real estate policy, the ones saying they are dying because of taxes? Are they the real estate wealthy paying the top 1% comprehensive real estate tax? Or are they people who own houses for speculative purposes but live in a 1 billion won jeonse house?” She added, “The minimum housing standard set by the Lee Myung-bak administration is 14㎡ for a single-person household. There are people living in 4-pyeong rooms like gosiwon, attic rooms, and tiny rooms,” and said, “Please represent not only the people worried about the Gangnam 3 districts but also the citizens living a minimum standard life in a 4-pyeong room without even one house.”

Rep. Jang Kyung-tae of the Democratic Party introduced himself as a “young person without a home.” Rep. Jang said, “Having come to Seoul from the provinces, I lived in semi-basements, attic rooms, and gosiwon,” and revealed, “Because of the unaffordable jeonse deposit, I couldn’t even dream of a jeonse house.”

Rep. Jang pointed out, “The dream of owning a home is neither a dream of bank loans nor a dream of successful gap investment,” adding, “Seoul has now created an insurmountable wall called real estate. For young people living in anxiety about whether monthly rent or jeonse deposits will rise, or whether contract renewals will be denied, it only gives a sense of futility.”

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The image of the United Future Party also changed due to the ‘Yoon Hee-sook effect.’ Unlike in the past when they shouted and left, the party stayed until the end of the meeting and engaged in opposing debates. However, they did not participate in the bill voting. Democratic Party lawmakers criticized the United Future Party, saying, “If you debated in opposition, you should vote against it,” and “Those who can’t even cast a no vote talk too much.” Throughout the plenary session, shouting and jeering between the ruling and opposition parties continued.

Rep. Kim Seon-kyo of the United Future Party criticized the government’s real estate policy by sharing his own experience with the Seoul jeonse crisis. Rep. Kim said, “When I combined the assets of my elderly mother, myself, my spouse, and my grown-up children for asset reporting, it was only about 500 million won,” and added, “After becoming a member of the National Assembly, I searched for housing in Seoul to focus on legislative activities but had no choice but to face the wall of reality.” He continued, “In reality, jeonse deposits serve as a ladder for ordinary people to own homes, but the Democratic Party kicked away that ladder.”