[Yoon Government Task] Ministry of Gender Equality Abolition Excluded... Ahn "Reviewing Better Reform Plans" (Comprehensive)

[Asia Economy Reporter Bu Aeri] The Yoon Suk-yeol administration's national agenda includes numerous measures to ease real estate policies, taking lessons from the Moon Jae-in administration. It also contains judicial reform plans to strengthen the independence of the prosecution in response to the Moon administration's 'Geomsu Wanbak (complete abolition of prosecution investigation rights)'. However, the controversial abolition of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family was not included in the national agenda.

According to the new government's national agenda announced by the Presidential Transition Committee on the 3rd, the real estate section was included as the second among the top 20 national tasks. The committee set the direction to "correct real estate policies from the perspective of the public," signaling differentiation from the Moon administration.

Specifically, a roadmap for supplying "2.5 million housing units + α" will be established and expedited by year and region. To increase housing supply in urban areas, related systems such as the price ceiling system for sale, reconstruction charges, and safety inspections will be revised. However, by adding the term "reasonable," it suggests that some pledges may be adjusted considering the impact on the real estate market. The enactment of a special law for the first-generation new towns was also included in the national agenda. The lease protection law implemented under the Moon administration will be improved to minimize market confusion and consider tenant housing stability. Measures will be prepared to prevent a sharp increase in the public burden due to this year's rise in official property prices, and the plan to realize official property prices will be re-examined.

Real estate taxation will also undergo significant revisions. First, from this year, to reduce the burden of comprehensive real estate tax (Comprehensive Real Estate Tax, CRET), adjustments will be made to official property prices and the fair market value ratio, and payment deferrals will be introduced for elderly single-homeowners. Fundamentally, plans to reform the CRET rate system will also be prepared. Regarding the mid- to long-term integration with property tax, the wording in the original pledge changed from "promotion" to "review." The policy of imposing heavy capital gains tax on multiple homeowners will be re-examined, and acquisition tax will be reformed to ease the heavy burden.

For housing loans, the maximum loan-to-value ratio (LTV) for first-time homebuyers will be eased from the current 60-70% to 80% as a priority. For non-first-time buyers, LTV easing will be pursued considering the housing market situation and the establishment of the debt service ratio (DSR) conditions. The original pledges such as "uniform 70% regardless of region" and "easing to 30-40% for multiple homeowners" were left as examples, leaving room for modification.

The national agenda also includes plans to strengthen the political neutrality of the prosecution through criminal justice reform. Specifically, Article 8 of the Prosecutors' Office Act will be amended to abolish the Ministry of Justice Minister's specific case investigation directive authority over the Prosecutor General. Until the law is amended, the committee will consider prioritizing the implementation of "restriction on the exercise of investigation directive authority." The authority to prepare and allocate the prosecution budget will be transferred from the Ministry of Justice to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. Additionally, a system will be established where the prosecution and police are each responsible for investigation stages, and Article 24 of the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office (Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, CIO) Act will be abolished to allow the prosecution and police to investigate corruption crimes alongside the CIO.

North Korea policy focuses on promoting denuclearization. Under close coordination between South Korea and the United States, denuclearization negotiations with North Korea will be pursued based on the principle of reciprocity. A security dialogue channel among South Korea, North Korea, and the United States will be institutionalized, and liaison offices among the three countries will be established in Panmunjom or Washington.

The absence of the pledge to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family suggests a focus on either maintaining or reorganizing it. Specific details are expected to emerge during the government organization restructuring process. Regarding this, Ahn Cheol-soo, the head of the transition committee, said, "From the beginning, we said we would not deal with government organization restructuring," adding, "For now, we will inherit and operate the current government organization and use this period to check what actual problems exist and how to prepare better restructuring plans for the people."