[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Seul-gi] Kim Jo-won, Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs at the Blue House, who owns two apartments in Gangnam, Seoul, withdrew one of the apartments from the market after listing it at a price higher than the surrounding market value, sparking controversy. A Blue House official explained, "Men sometimes don't understand (real estate prices) well," which has been criticized as a sexist remark. The opposition party criticized this as making excuses involving his wife.
On the 7th, Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the United Future Party, wrote on his Facebook, "Men in the Moon Jae-in administration are truly cowardly. When disadvantaged like Kim Eui-gyeom, they blame their wives."
He continued, "Does the Blue House have a response manual that says to blame your wife when in trouble? The Blue House official's remark that 'men don't understand real estate' makes me want to ask if they are claiming 'all speculators are women.' If so, this is a serious misogynistic statement."
He added, "The commotion that you must sell your second home to remain at the Blue House is strange, but if a promise was made to the public, Secretary Kim, the person involved, should take responsibility and keep it. However, he listed the property at a high price hoping for more profit, and when it didn't sell, he now shifts the responsibility to his wife."
Ha said, "Anyone who can't manage their own real estate and blames their wife is not qualified to handle state affairs."
Earlier, Secretary Kim listed an apartment he owned in Jamsil-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, at about 200 million won higher than the actual transaction price.
In response to the controversy over whether he had no intention to dispose of the property, the Blue House explained, "When conducting real estate transactions, men sometimes don't know well how much they want to sell it for."
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