[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jihwan] Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, said on the 6th regarding his plan to supply housing through the release of the Greenbelt, "It is about supplying additional housing by either utilizing parts that have already been damaged and have little preservation value or by undergrounding urban expressways and urban railways."
In a New Year's special interview aired on Gwangju, Mokpo, and Yeosu MBC on the same day, Candidate Lee stated, "The rise in housing prices is somewhat a policy failure, but we cannot continue to ignore it as we have been."
Regarding concerns that releasing the Greenbelt could accelerate the unipolar structure of the Seoul metropolitan area, Candidate Lee said, "I do not think it would cause problems to the extent of hindering national balanced development." He added, "Suppressing the metropolitan area to grow local regions would only increase conflicts. We need to increase investment in local areas, because if we suppress here (the metropolitan area), it will clash with the market again."
Regarding the Land Profit Dividend System (Land Holding Tax) policy, he said, "People attacked me saying I was trying to collect taxes, so I named it the Land Profit Dividend, but they said, 'Why call it profit when there is no profit?'. So, let's revert the name back to the original 'Land Dividend'."
On whether the New Year's supplementary budget (supplementary budget) would include funds for nationwide disaster relief payments, he said, "If you have to go to Seoul and the road is blocked, do you wait until the end? You have to take a detour. Looking at the big picture in the long term, I think this (nationwide support) is necessary for economic recovery. But right now, small business owners are in serious trouble, so we should focus on that issue first since funds are insufficient."
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