Lee Jae-myung: "Yoon's Privatization of State-Owned Assets is 'Fattening the Privileged'... Will Push to Amend the State Property Act"

"Who Would Buy Sold State-Owned Property?"
Real Estate Price Increase, Speculation, and Other Side Effects Expected

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party of Korea's presidential candidate, criticized the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's plan to privatize state-owned assets, promising, "I will first push for the revision of the State Property Act to prevent the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the National Assembly from unilaterally selling state-owned assets without agreement."

On the 10th, Lee stated on Facebook, "The government's sale of state-owned assets to the private sector is not about 'tightening the belt' but about 'fattening a small privileged class.'

On the 8th, the Ministry of Economy and Finance chaired an 'Emergency Economic Ministers' Meeting' at the Government Seoul Office and announced a plan to sell and activate idle and underutilized state-owned assets. The government decided to sell a total of '16 trillion won+?' worth of idle and underutilized state-owned assets.

Regarding this, Lee questioned, "Who will buy the sold state-owned assets?" and predicted, "They will go to wealthy individuals or large conglomerates at prices cheaper than market value. It is obvious that real estate prices will rise and speculation will occur."

He added, "Conversely, it will negatively affect housing stability for ordinary citizens and support measures for small and medium-sized enterprises," and said, "The Ministry of Economy and Finance plans to immediately start selling state-owned assets currently used for commercial and rental housing invested in by the Korea Asset Management Corporation and the Korea Land and Housing Corporation starting this month."

Lee said, "Even idle land without immediate utilization plans is likely to become an obstacle when pursuing essential national policies such as startup and SME support complexes or rental housing construction in the future."

He criticized, "The government's justification of 'tightening the belt' is inconsistent. If fiscal soundness is important, they should first withdraw the 'super-rich tax cuts,' which are expected to reduce tax revenue by more than 13 trillion won annually. One-time sales of state-owned assets cannot be a solution to offset an annual tax revenue decrease of 13 trillion won."

He continued, "The Democratic Party will start by doing things properly," emphasizing, "We will correct the reversed livelihood policies of the incompetent, irresponsible, and unprepared three-no administration and create solutions appropriate for the crisis."