Yoo Seung-min "Government Real Estate Statement Is Absurd"
Yoon Seok-yeol Camp "Hypocritical... Only Patchwork Measures"
[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] Opposition presidential candidates have strongly criticized the government’s statement requesting restraint on speculative real estate purchases.
On the 28th, Yoon Seung-min, a presidential candidate from the People Power Party and former lawmaker, said, "I was speechless when reading the 'Message to the People for Real Estate Market Stability' and have to say something." He criticized, "For the past four years, they claimed 'housing supply is sufficient,' manipulated housing price and rent statistics, created insane housing prices through taxes and regulations, and caused crazy rent hikes with the three lease laws. Who is responsible? Isn’t it President Moon Jae-in, the government, and the Democratic Party?" He pointed out, "They show no intention of reflecting on their serious policy failures or presenting completely new real estate policies, and now they are shifting responsibility onto the people and the market. That is really unacceptable."
He rebutted, "Is it a crime to try to buy before housing prices rise further because the Moon Jae-in administration did not abandon incompetence, arrogance, and dogmatism and insisted on wrong policies?" He added, "What crime did the people commit who had to search for farther and smaller rental homes because rents rose due to the three lease laws and landlords asked them to vacate?" He further pointed out, "While housing prices soared wildly, the government rapidly raised official property prices, causing homeowners to face a tax bomb, and those taxes were fully passed on to rents, making rents rise even more."
Regarding Deputy Prime Minister Hong’s remark that "to prevent the tragedy of the commons, we all need to gather wisdom and cooperate for the community," Yoon said, "'Everyone’s responsibility' means 'no one’s responsibility.' I have never seen such an irresponsible, incompetent, and ignorant government."
He said, "Stop making excuses, increase supply, lower taxes, and repeal the three lease laws," adding, "That is the solution to restore the market and stabilize housing prices and rents."
The camp of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl also joined the criticism, calling it "blaming the victim."
Kim Byung-min, spokesperson for Yoon’s campaign, said, "Why are you trying to shift the responsibility for the real estate disaster onto innocent citizens?" He criticized, "Ignoring the government’s failure in the sharp rise of housing prices, the Moon Jae-in administration’s attitude of shifting responsibility onto the people is suffocating."
He criticized, "Those who believed the Moon Jae-in government’s promise to control housing prices and sold their homes early in this administration suffered irreparable financial damage," and added, "Those who postponed purchasing homes while waiting for the 3rd New Town development and sales must have felt indescribable frustration watching housing prices rise absurdly over time."
Spokesperson Kim said, "The Moon Jae-in government, which changed real estate policies like turning over a hand and repeatedly implemented patchwork measures, deserves any criticism for responsibility," and urged, "If there is even a slight willingness to empathize with the reality of citizens suffering from real estate problems, the government should now seriously accept the failure of its real estate policies and show responsible actions to correct wrong policies."
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