People Power Party Appoints Education Scholar to 'Focused Effort' Real Estate Special Committee... Here's Why

Professor Yang Jungho Appointed to Special Committee
Policies to Be Reviewed from Multiple Angles, Including Education and Demographic Change
Voices of the 2030 Generation on Campuses to Be Heard Ahead of Next Year’s Local Elections

Jang Donghyuk, leader of the People Power Party, has drawn attention by appointing an education scholar to the Special Committee on Real Estate Normalization (Real Estate Special Committee), which he is personally steering and focusing the party's efforts on.

On October 23, the People Power Party appointed Yang Jungho, professor of education at Sungkyunkwan University, as an additional member of the Real Estate Special Committee during the Supreme Council meeting. Professor Yang began his activities with the committee by participating in the on-site meeting on real estate policy held at the Sangye 5 Redevelopment Promotion Zone in Nowon on October 24.

People Power Party representative Jang Donghyuk is holding a meeting with residents after visiting the Sangye 5 Redevelopment Promotion Zone in Nowon-gu, Seoul on October 24, 2025. Photo by Kang Jinhyung

The Real Estate Special Committee is chaired by Jang Donghyuk, with Kim Doeup, Policy Committee Chair, serving as vice chair. The committee also includes Assemblymen Park Sooyoung, Kang Min-guk, and Kwon Youngjin, who are opposition secretaries of the National Assembly’s Planning and Finance Committee, Political Affairs Committee, and Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, respectively, as well as Assembly members Cho Eunhee, Kim Eunhye, and Cho Junghoon, who represent constituencies in the Seoul metropolitan area. As a civilian member, Shim Kyoeon, professor of real estate at Konkuk University and a real estate expert, was appointed. While Jang Donghyuk took the lead in forming the committee with both internal and external figures specializing in real estate policy, Professor Yang was included as the only non-real estate expert.

Professor Yang is an expert in education policy, having mainly addressed issues such as the college admissions system, private education, and social policy. During the Park Geun-hye administration, he served as chair of the Social Policy Advisory Committee, which was led by Hwang Woo-yea, then Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, and involved nine ministries.

The inclusion of an education expert in the Real Estate Special Committee is intended to scrutinize the Lee Jaemyung administration’s real estate policies from multiple perspectives. The party aims to differentiate itself by criticizing the government and ruling party for treating real estate solely as a target of speculation and responding only with regulations, while approaching the issue from various angles such as education, social mobility, and demographic changes. A People Power Party official emphasized, “Real estate is intertwined with various social issues such as school districts, access to private education, and aging, so it should not be approached merely through short-term demand adjustments.”

The party is intensifying its offensive against the government and ruling party, focusing on the October 15 real estate measures. It is pressuring Lee Sangkyung, Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, to resign, criticizing the government and ruling party officials for owning expensive real estate and calling it hypocrisy, especially in light of the gap investment controversy. On SBS Radio that day, Assemblyman Cho, a member of the Real Estate Special Committee, remarked, “Vice Minister Lee is not a real estate expert but a speculation expert. If officials make policies that they themselves do not follow but expect the public to, it undermines trust. All figures shaping the government’s real estate policy, including the Minister and Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, should be replaced.”

Jang Donghyuk, leader of the People Power Party, and Oh Sehoon, mayor of Seoul, are inspecting the site of the Sangye 5 Redevelopment Promotion Zone in Nowon-gu, Seoul, on the morning of October 24, 2025. Photo by Kang Jinhyung

With the local elections scheduled for June next year, the party also intends to use real estate policy as a card to turn the political tide and gauge shifts in public sentiment through the committee. The calculation is to listen to the voices of the 2030 generation and win over public opinion among young people and residents of the Seoul metropolitan area, who are dissatisfied with current real estate policies. In a phone call, Professor Yang stated, “Real estate policy is not simply an economic issue; it is linked to many areas such as social inequality, education, and welfare. I believe I can also convey the sense of exclusion that young people in universities feel regarding real estate policy.”

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party of Korea has launched a Real Estate Task Force (TF) led by Policy Committee Chair Han Jeongae. The team includes Assemblymen Lee Haesik (Public Administration and Security Committee), Jeong Taeho and Kim Younghwan (Planning and Finance Committee), Park Sanghyuk (Political Affairs Committee), and Bok Giwang, Cheon Junho, and An Taejun (Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee). Civilian members have not yet been appointed.