Song Eon-seok "Statistics Seem Distorted Due to Pressure from Cheong Wa Dae and Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport"

People Power Party Lawmaker MBC Radio Interview

Song Eon-seok, a member of the People Power Party, commented on the allegations of statistical manipulation during the Moon Jae-in administration, saying, "It appears that due to strong persuasion and pressure from the Blue House and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, it inevitably had to be distorted in that way."

On the 18th, Song appeared on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' and mentioned that he had raised suspicions in 2020 that the Moon Jae-in government manipulated housing price statistics, stating, "(At that time) the reality could not be accurately known, but it has now been confirmed through the Board of Audit and Inspection's audit results."

Regarding the claim based on Article 27, Paragraph 4 of the Statistics Act, which states, 'In cases where urgent response by related agencies is recognized due to economic crisis, market instability, etc., as prescribed by Presidential Decree, this shall not apply,' allowing prior reporting of statistics, he pointed out, "Exceptions should truly remain exceptions and be operated restrictively, but the audit results show that such cases occurred as many as 94 times," adding, "It seems that the statistical manipulation was planned from the very beginning and carried out from start to finish."

Song Eon-seok, Member of the People Power Party. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

He continued, "If the statements that came out in the Board of Audit and Inspection's audit results, such as 'If this happens, our entire line will be ruined, please just let it slide this once,' are true, then this is not even an exception under the Statistics Act, but rather pressure resulting from an abuse of authority."

Regarding the Moon Jae-in administration's claim that the difference between KB Market Price and Real Estate Board Market Price cannot be considered evidence of statistical manipulation, he said, "Even in the Board of Audit and Inspection's audit results, it was not said to be manipulation compared to KB Market Price. Initially, the Real Estate Board was instructed to provide median values, so instead of only final confirmed figures, they were told to provide weekly median values and preliminary figures, which were newly created."

He added, "When the initially released weekly median or preliminary figures differed from the confirmed figures, they kept questioning why there was a difference, and eventually pressure was exerted to lower the final figures. This is why it is called manipulation. It is not at all about saying that because the Real Estate Board's prices are lower compared to KB Market Price, it is manipulation."

Regarding former President Moon Jae-in sharing a report from the Korea Labor and Society Institute on Facebook, which claimed that the employment rate during his administration was the highest ever, as a rebuttal to the Board of Audit and Inspection's allegations of statistical manipulation, he said, "Currently, Kim Yoo-sun, the chairman of the Korea Labor and Society Institute, is a person who served as the chair of the Income-led Growth Committee. Saying that the employment rate was very good during President Moon Jae-in's era is different from the period we are discussing regarding statistical manipulation, which was around 2018 and 2019."