Choi Jae-sung, Blue House Senior Secretary for Political Affairs: "Rapid House Price Surge Due to Park Geun-hye Government's Stimulus Measures"

Choi Jae-sung, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs at the Blue House, says Yoon Seok-yeol's National Assembly audit remarks were "not cool-headed"

Choi Jae-sung, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs at the Blue House, is briefing on August 17 at the Blue House about communication measures with the National Assembly, including talks between President Moon Jae-in and leaders of ruling and opposition parties.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Choi Jaesung, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs at the Blue House, claimed on the 28th that the rapid rise in housing prices during the current administration was due to the real estate stimulus policies of the Park Geun-hye government.

Choi appeared on KBS News that day and said, "Ironically, during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, efforts were made to stabilize housing prices, but the benefits were seen during the Lee Myung-bak administration," adding, "The Park Geun-hye government, with its real estate stimulus policies, failed to control jeonse (long-term lease) prices and almost forced people by saying, 'If you have money for jeonse, take a small loan and buy a house.' This is why the current government has had to bear the consequences of rising housing prices."

Regarding the confusion in the jeonse market after the implementation of the 'Three Lease Laws,' Choi said, "It was not entirely unexpected," analyzing, "As real estate policies worked strongly, buying demand decreased, leading to an increase in the jeonse market."

He continued, "While the population of Seoul has decreased, the number of households has increased by nearly 90,000," pointing out that the fundamental cause of the jeonse shortage is the lack of jeonse supply due to household division.

Choi emphasized the government's housing policy plan, saying, "There is a need to stabilize the housing price bubble, but more importantly, it is necessary to change the residential culture that prefers Seoul, especially certain areas," and added, "Therefore, the Moon Jae-in administration planned to supply lifelong housing and public rental housing models that even the middle class can prefer and live in without buying a house."

Meanwhile, regarding Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl's dissatisfaction expressed at the National Assembly inspection on the 22nd about Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae's exercise of investigative authority, Choi evaluated it as "not being cool-headed."

He said, "(Minister Choo) exercised the investigative authority, and Prosecutor General Yoon accepted it within 30 minutes. However, he denied it and called it illegal during the inspection."

He added, "The background of the Blue House saying that 'Minister Choo's exercise of investigative authority was inevitable' was that it would be better to resolve it quickly for the sake of the prosecution," and said, "I think Prosecutor General Yoon should have been a bit more cool-headed."

Regarding Yoon's claim at the inspection that "President Moon conveyed a message through an appropriate messenger after the general election to keep his term," Choi criticized, saying, "It was inappropriate for Prosecutor General Yoon to bring up that matter itself," and added, "If he was going to talk about it, he should have said 'who told him and when to serve the full term,' but by leaving that out, he caused more confusion."