[Summary] "If apartments were bread" Kim Hyun-mi... Opposition: "Amateur", "Are you Antoinette?"

Ryu Seong-geol "Housing shortage cannot be solved with policies that poke around here and there"
Yoon Hee-sook "We must eliminate the cause of people crowding bakeries from morning"

Kim Hyun-mi, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, is responding to lawmakers' questions at the full meeting of the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the morning of the 30th of last month. / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Hyun-mi expressed frustration over the difficulty of resolving the shortage of apartment supply, stating, "If apartments were bread, I would stay up all night to make them." In response, the People Power Party satirized her remarks on the 1st by likening her to an "amateur" and "Marie Antoinette."

Kim Sung-won, the senior deputy floor leader of the People Power Party, said at the party's floor meeting that day, "The Moon Jae-in administration recklessly enforced legislative dictatorship to control housing prices at all costs, resulting in the highest nationwide housing price increase in 17 years," and emphasized, "When receiving such a report card, President Moon should have dismissed Minister Kim Hyun-mi."

Ryu Seong-gil, a lawmaker from the same party, strongly criticized, "Minister Kim said she would stay up all night to make apartments if they were bread, but when did she ever say that housing supply was sufficient? Now she is only saying this," adding, "There needs to be proper diagnosis and prescription, but amateurish policies that poke around here and there will not solve the housing shortage."

There were also indirect criticisms of Minister Kim by comparing housing to bread. Yoon Hee-sook, a People Power Party lawmaker, pointed out, "Even if apartments are like bread, market principles operate similarly," and said, "We need to eliminate the causes that make people flock to popular bakeries from early morning and drive up bread prices." This was interpreted as an argument that the main cause of rising housing prices is the shortage of housing supply, just as bread prices rise when bread is scarce.

She continued, "Do not block those who want to open bakeries in prime urban areas or those who want to renovate bakery interiors and replace machines to make bread favored by the younger generation," and added, "Everyone likes different kinds of bread, so don't insist that building many bakeries in new towns should reassure people. It is not the government's role to teach the public what kind of bread taste they should prefer."

Kim Geun-sik, a professor at Gyeongnam National University and the People Power Party's Seoul Songpa-byeong district chairman, criticized on his Facebook post on the 30th of last month, calling it "Marie Antoinette's 'Let them eat cake' remark season 2," and said, "It is the same perception as Democratic Party lawmaker Jin Sun-mi's call to break free from the apartment fantasy. Ultimately, Marie Antoinette met a tragic end at the guillotine."

Kim Geun-sik, professor at Gyeongnam University and head of the Seoul Songpa-byeong district of the People Power Party / Photo by Yonhap News

Meanwhile, Minister Kim attended a current affairs inquiry held by the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee that day. When questioned by Kim Gyo-heung, a Democratic Party lawmaker, about the reason for the shortage of apartment supply in the jeonse (long-term lease) measures, she replied, "The supply volume of apartments decreased in 2021 and 2022 because the number of apartment permits drastically declined five years ago, and many public housing sites were also canceled."

She then lamented, "If apartments were bread, I would stay up all night to bake them," adding, "Apartments require an absolute construction period, so even if there is a shortage of apartments now, the government...(finds it difficult to supply them)." This was interpreted as her expressing the difficulty of securing apartment supply in a short period by comparing it to bread.

However, the opposition criticized Minister Kim's remarks as a form of 'disconnected rhetoric.' They pointed out that her stance contradicts her past statements that 'housing supply is sufficient.'

Kim Ye-ryeong, a spokesperson for the People Power Party, said in a verbal commentary that day, "The public is distressed day by day over housing issues, but hearing such disconnected rhetoric only brings a hollow laugh."

She also pointed out Minister Kim's past remarks about housing supply, saying, "Five months ago, when announcing the July 10 measures, Minister Kim said, 'Housing supply is sufficient, and the cause of the real estate crisis is multi-homeowners.'"

She emphasized, "Apartments are not bread, so the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport should come up with proper measures."