President Lee's "Real Estate Public-Opinion Battle": "We Will Stop It by Any Means Necessary"

President Lee Jaemyung's February 3 social media message
Sharing articles from conservative and business media outlets
"Money is the devil... has it even robbed you of your conscience?"

Yonhap News Agency

President Lee Jaemyung is ramping up his "real estate public-opinion offensive." With the Cabinet scheduled on February 3 to discuss the heavy capital gains tax regime on multi-home owners, he issued a stern warning, saying, "We will stamp out ruinous real estate speculation by any means necessary." Aiming at critical public opinion, he accused his critics, asking, "Have you even lost your conscience to the devil?" This is seen as an attempt to block negative sentiment and enhance the effectiveness of his policies at a time when the government's real estate measures are having little impact.

At about 8:05 a.m. that day, President Lee wrote on his X account (X, formerly Twitter), stressing, "To build a sensible and prosperous country, we will, by any means necessary, put an end to ruinous real estate speculation."

President Lee said, "To those of you who think this is just bluster, and to those who sympathize with the tears of multi-home owners and end up defending real estate speculation, I urge you to look squarely, with a clear and cool head, at how reality has changed," adding, "There are plenty of policy tools we can use." He went on, "This is not a threat or empty bluff; it is a recommendation because it is necessary and beneficial for everyone. This is your last chance to get out," he warned.

This kind of hardline real estate message from the president has continued for four straight days. Since President Lee said on January 31 that "Normalizing the real estate market is much easier than pushing the KOSPI to 5,000 or cleaning up (illegal) valley resorts," the tone of his remarks has grown increasingly tough. He has dismissed opposition party criticism as "anachronistic red-baiting" and warned multi-home owners, "Do not try to unjustly beat the government while talking about a bolt from the blue."

On this day as well, President Lee personally pushed back after sharing an article that pointed out side effects of the real estate measures. "To those who feel sorry for the tears of the hundreds of thousands of multi-home owners who seek unearned income through real estate speculation, I ask you this," he said. "Can you not see the tears of blood shed by the millions of young people who give up on marriage and childbirth because of the high housing costs caused by these people?" He added an even stronger criticism: "They say money is the devil; have you even let the devil take away your conscience?"

Blue House: "We see a problem in unconditional criticism of the Lee Jaemyung administration"

The Blue House explained that this was a step to put the brakes on unconditional criticism of the government. A Blue House official said, "We naturally accept critical articles," but also remarked, "We do see a problem with the mindset that the Lee Jaemyung administration is bound to fail on real estate policy." The official added, "(President Lee) wants to clearly explain that he is different from previous administrations."

In this context, President Lee said, "To those who are agitating because you expect us to fail again this time, let me tell you this: in the past, real estate was the only investment vehicle, but now there are alternative investment options." He meant that whereas real estate used to be the most preferred investment, today stocks have become the number one choice, changing the landscape. He also expressed confidence in stabilizing the real estate market, noting that his pledge-fulfillment rate averages 95 percent.

This is also seen as a move to maximize the impact of real estate policy. At about 9:08 a.m., roughly an hour later, President Lee shared an article reporting that the number of properties for sale in Gangnam had increased, and stated his view that "Selling rather than holding out, and selling early rather than late, will be more advantageous." In effect, the president used social media to induce multi-home owners to put properties on the market before the end of the temporary suspension of heavy capital gains taxation.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance and Economy Koo Yooncheol said that at the Cabinet meeting that day, the government would discuss supplementary measures related to the end of the grace period for the heavy capital gains tax on multi-home owners. As President Lee has emphasized, the government is expected to discuss options such as ending the grace measure on May 9 while exempting from the heavy tax those properties for which sales contracts have already been signed.