Jeju-Seocho Sparks 'Gongsi Price Freeze Debate', Spreads to Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Gyeongbuk and Other Metropolitan Areas Nationwide... Original Siblings Unite in Representing Public Sentiment on Real Estate, Future Industries, Environmental Issues, and More, Earning Praise for Citizen-Centered Policy Initiatives
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong and Seocho District Mayor Cho Eun-hee, the only opposition party member in Seoul, have attracted attention by showing a close partnership on major livelihood issues such as the ‘controversy over soaring official land prices.’
In particular, the debate over freezing official land prices, jointly launched in Jeju and Seocho, has become a nationwide signal flare, spreading to metropolitan local governments across the country, including Seoul, Busan, Daegu, and Gyeongbuk.
Earlier, on the 15th of last month, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport opened the ‘2021 Official Apartment Price Announcement’ for public inspection.
However, due to the consecutive surge in official land prices following the previous year, the burden of various taxes such as property tax has increased, leading to strong criticism that ‘official land prices have transformed into a punitive middle-class tax.’ The criteria for calculating official land prices are ambiguous and difficult to accept, resulting in an unprecedented number of objections related to official land prices.
In response, Governor Won and Mayor Cho (known as the ‘Won-Cho siblings’) have actively represented the public sentiment boiling over issues of fairness and equity, emphasizing the ‘normalization of unreasonable official land prices’ day after day.
On the 5th, they held a joint press conference and announced representative types of official land price errors revealed through independent surveys conducted in Jeju and Seocho, sharply criticizing that “the bogus official land price calculations must be normalized.” This announcement came about two weeks after they began their own investigation through an expert ‘Official Land Price Verification Team.’
Jeju Province and Seocho District claimed that the full survey results found numerous error types, including cases where the official price was higher than the actual transaction price in apartments, cases where the official price increase rate for row houses and multi-family houses rose by more than 100% compared to the previous year, cases where official prices varied under identical conditions, and cases where site characteristics were not reflected.
As public backlash and repeated objections from the Won-Cho siblings sparked controversy, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport struggled to explain through press releases and a press briefing over two days.
In particular, the Ministry rebutted by stating that “appropriate prices were calculated by comparing nearby apartments.”
However, Jeju Province and Seocho District once again countered this, emphasizing that to correct unreasonable official land prices, the prices must first be frozen and a comprehensive re-investigation is necessary.
The ‘Won-Cho siblings’ proposal urging participation in this official land price re-investigation acted as a catalyst, and on the 18th, five metropolitan governors from the People Power Party?Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, Busan Mayor Park Hyung-joon, Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin, Gyeongbuk Governor Lee Cheol-woo, and Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong?along with People Power Party Acting Representative Joo Ho-young, will hold a joint meeting and announce a policy alliance opposing official land price increases, further intensifying the ‘official land price debate.’
The connection between Governor Won Hee-ryong and Mayor Cho Eun-hee dates back to the Seoul District Mayors’ New Year meeting held under the late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon (April 2019).
At that time, Seocho District was isolated like an outcast, as it was unilaterally excluded from technical personnel exchanges by Seoul City, sparking controversy that it was an attempt to discipline the only opposition district mayor.
Especially at the New Year meeting, when Seoul City skipped Mayor Cho’s scheduled toast speech without a word, a ‘Seocho District passing’ occurred. Governor Won sent a message of encouragement on his YouTube channel ‘Wonderful TV’ with the Candy theme song “Even if I’m lonely~ even if I’m sad~ I won’t cry,” saying, “When I go to the provincial governors’ meeting, I’m the only independent, so I’m in a similar situation. Trust the residents and stay strong.”
The ‘Won-Cho siblings,’ united by shared hardship, continued their relationship by showing mutual interest in preparing future industries, attending the world’s largest IT and home appliance exhibition CES in 2020.
Also, Jeju and Seocho District have been quick to respond to environmental issues such as fine dust. Seocho is promoting a ‘Green Project’ to ensure safety indoors in the post-COVID-19 era, and Kim Sang-hyup, CEO of Our Future, who was a cooperating institution in this project, was appointed last year as the head of the Jeju Research Institute, leading efforts to respond to climate change.
Representing public sentiment in unison on various issues such as real estate, future industries, and environmental problems, the ‘Won-Cho siblings,’ who harmonize their policy approaches focusing on livelihoods rather than political strife, are expected to create a nationwide new wave, and attention is focused on what synergy they will produce in the future.
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