Yun Heesuk Says "President Lee Is a Fraud If He Expects Different Results While Repeating Past Mistakes"

"Seoul Housing Prices Driven by Supply Cuts and Heavy Taxation, Not Multiple-Home Owners"
Criticizing Park Wonsoon and Moon Jaein Policies... "Public Rental Housing Is Not the Solution"

Yoon Heesuk, Member of the People Power Party. Kim Hyunmin, Reporter

Former People Power Party lawmaker Yun Heesuk, who has declared her intention to run for mayor of Seoul, has launched a direct attack on President Lee Jaemyung's real estate policy.

On the 16th, Yun posted a message on her social networking service (SNS) titled "I Will Answer the President's Public Question," in which she rebutted President Lee Jaemyung's public question posed at dawn the previous day to the People Power Party regarding its "position on owning multiple homes."

Regarding the background to President Lee raising the issue of multiple-home ownership, Yun argued, "It is because it became known that he himself, who had long been urging the public to 'sell your house and buy stocks,' is holding on to a home while waiting for redevelopment." She went on to describe the president's question as a "bare-bones good-and-evil narrative," stressing that "in policy, outcomes matter more than intentions."

Invoking classical economics, she argued that "what matters is not the intentions of multiple-home owners, but the impact on the market." In particular, she stated, "There is no expert, either in academia or on the ground, who sees the current instability in Seoul housing prices as the fault of multiple-home owners," and characterized President Lee's line of attack as "election-driven political offensives."

Yun identified two main causes of the current instability in the real estate market. First, she pointed to reduced supply stemming from the urban development stance during the tenure of former Seoul Mayor Park Wonsoon. Second, she cited the so-called "one smart home" phenomenon triggered by the Moon Jaein administration's heavy taxation policy on multiple-home owners. She assessed that these policies resulted in concentrating capital from across the country into Seoul's key districts.

She also warned that tighter lending regulations and higher taxes could fuel instability in the jeonse and monthly rental markets. Yun said, "The pressure from regulations is bound to spill over into the jeonse and monthly rent markets," adding, "Jeonse supply is already shrinking, and concerns about rising monthly rents are growing."

She further criticized the plan to expand public rental housing, saying, "It is difficult to meet rental demand in a short period of time," and pointing out that "in most countries, the private rental market accounts for a larger share." In closing, Yun intensified her criticism, saying, "Even if you do not understand basic economic principles, you should at least learn from experience. If someone keeps repeating past mistakes while claiming they will produce different results, that person is either a fool or a fraud."