Yoo Si-min: "I hope we live in a world where buying and selling land to get rich is unthinkable"

Yoo Si-min, chairman of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, expressed hope for "an unimaginable real estate policy" in South Korea. Photo by YouTube, captured from 'Alileo Season 3' [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hana Na] Yoo Si-min, chairman of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, said about South Korea's real estate policy, "I hope a strong, innovative, and unimaginable real estate policy will emerge."

On the 25th, in response to a question about his New Year's wish on the YouTube broadcast 'Alileo Season 3,' Chairman Yoo stated, "I hope it becomes a world where people can no longer even think about becoming rich by buying and selling land."

The topic of the YouTube broadcast that day was Henry George's book Progress and Poverty. Chairman Yoo explained Henry George, who advocated for a land value tax in the 19th century, as "a person who argued for a single tax on land to eradicate social evils."

He added, "When the government tries to regulate the massive surge in real estate prices caused by using real estate as a means of speculation, the mainstream media summons him (Henry George) as a tool to attack the government."

He then cited Henry George's concept of land in relation to the real estate bubble, saying, "(The rise in real estate prices) is a recent phenomenon. The same thing is happening in New York," and pointed out, "In our country, real estate prices have risen tremendously this year, but the US, UK, and Germany are all in turmoil."

Chairman Yoo emphasized, "The government is currently implementing dozens of policies, but real estate prices are not calming down," and added, "We need to study ways to implement the purpose of Henry George's proposed single land tax in a manner suitable to our country's conditions."