President Lee: "Is the People Power Party Saying We Should Maintain Privileges for Multi-Home Owners?"
Multi-Home Ownership Causes All Kinds of Social Problems... "It Is Certainly Not Something to Encourage"
Aimed at the People Power Party and Jang
With Lunar New Year falling on the 17th, President Lee Jaemyung's "real estate message" is emerging as a key agenda item in domestic politics. Posting a series of comments on social media (SNS), President Lee has stressed that reducing the privileges enjoyed by multiple-home owners who buy properties for speculation or investment is in line with fairness. He also directly hit back at People Power Party leader Jang Donghyuk and the People Power Party, who have been attacking him by claiming that real estate policy is a form of intimidation against multiple-home owners and by saying that since he has an official presidential residence he should sell his "Bundang apartment." Lee countered, saying they are "making criticisms that are close to picking a quarrel, citing reasons that are hard to understand."
On the 16th, President Lee wrote on X (X, formerly Twitter), "A house can be an investment vehicle, but fundamentally it is a means of residence," first positing that the negative effects of owning multiple homes are greater, and then adding, "We must claw back the unjust privileges granted to multiple-home owners in areas such as taxation, finance, and regulation, and it is fair to impose on them a certain level of responsibility and burden for social problems."
President Lee went on to say, "If, because someone buys up houses they will never live in just to make money, there is a shortage of homes for residential use, and as a result home prices and jeonse and wolse rents rise abnormally, leading to all kinds of social problems such as people shunning marriage and childbirth, a decline in our industry's international competitiveness, and the risk of a 'lost 30 years' downturn, then even if one cannot denounce investment- or speculation-oriented multiple-home ownership as illegal or gravely immoral, it is at least clear that it is not something to be praised or encouraged."
He also drew a sharper line against the People Power Party, which has been criticizing him every time one of his SNS messages is posted. President Lee said, "There was something I had wanted to quietly ask when Representative Jang Donghyuk of the People Power Party came to the Blue House," and then publicly asked, "Does the People Power Party believe that multiple-home owners should not be regulated, that they should be protected, and that their existing privileges in areas such as finance and taxation should be maintained?" By doing so, he turned the People Power Party's attack of "the president should sell his house first" into a rebuttal: "Are you saying we should maintain privileges for multiple-home owners?" In an SNS message on the 14th, President Lee had already stated, "For the record, I own one home," and added, "The presidential residence is not my personal property, so please do not treat me as a multiple-home owner."
In particular, President Lee asked, "In the Republic of Korea, where there are many factors that fuel real estate speculation due to the small size of the land and the concentration in the Seoul metropolitan area, do you really think it is desirable for a small group to own multiple homes for investment or speculation?" He added, "Surely you are not that lacking in common sense," raising his voice. He went on to criticize, "It is truly regrettable that the People Power Party, which cannot be unaware of the unjust nature of the privileges given to multiple-home ownership that causes such great harm and of the need to strengthen regulations, is making criticisms that are close to picking a quarrel, citing reasons that are hard to understand, against policies to curb multiple-home ownership that are aimed at stabilizing housing for non-home-owning ordinary people and young people and at eradicating ruinous real estate speculation."
President Lee also directly rebutted concerns that have been consistently raised in some quarters about instability in the jeonse and wolse rental markets. In response to the argument that if sales by multiple-home owners increase, the number of rental properties will decrease and jeonse and wolse rents could rise, he countered with the logic that "if the number of multiple-home owners decreases, the number of non-home owners (rental demand) will also decrease." He also expressed the view that, given the strong public-interest nature of housing rentals, "it is desirable, as far as possible, for the public sector to take charge."
People Power Party: "Defend the Bundang Apartment" VS Democratic Party: "Jang Donghyuk Must First Disclose His Six Homes"
The People Power Party and the Democratic Party of Korea continued to clash over President Lee Jaemyung's real estate-related SNS messages. The People Power Party argued that only President Lee is being treated as an exception in real estate policy, focusing its criticism on his continued ownership of the "Bundang apartment" while he resides in the official presidential residence. The Democratic Party countered that the president has already clarified his position, yet the People Power Party is persisting with far-fetched arguments, and hit back by raising the issue of Representative Jang Donghyuk's multiple-home ownership.
On the 15th, the People Power Party, in a commentary by chief spokesperson Choi Boyoon, took issue with the part where President Lee described the Bundang apartment as "a residence to return to after retirement," criticizing this as "in effect a declaration to 'defend the Bundang apartment'." The party also argued that President Lee has effectively pressured the market by making remarks to the effect that he has "never forced anyone to sell multiple homes" and that "the cost of holding out will be higher," and by pointing to the timing of the end of the temporary suspension of heavier capital gains tax on multiple-home sales. It attacked him by saying, "He told the public that 'it will be a loss if you hold out,' yet he himself intends to hold on to his redevelopment asset to the end."
The same day, the Democratic Party responded in a written briefing by floor spokesperson Kim Hyunjung, criticizing the People Power Party by saying, "They keep their mouths tightly shut when it comes to their own multiple-home ownership." While raising the issue of Representative Jang's home ownership, Kim argued that "it is hard to accept criticizing the president, who owns one home, for not selling his Bundang apartment," and at the same time accused the People Power Party of "trying to protect unearned income from real estate." In response, senior floor spokesperson Choi Eunsuk of the People Power Party countered that "they are branding the entire party as a 'force defending unearned income' based on the multiple-home ownership of some lawmakers," and argued that "they should compete with policies, not with divisive tactics."
The clash continued on the 16th. After President Lee's SNS message was posted, the People Power Party protested, calling it "fomenting division." In a commentary, chief spokesperson Park Sunghoon of the People Power Party claimed that President Lee's remarks on real estate framed them as defending vested interests and were a typical example of fomenting division, and criticized, "The market cannot be controlled with vile agitation." The party also argued that President Lee is "demonizing" multiple-home owners and pressed him by saying, "As a non-resident single-home owner, clearly state before the public whether you plan to return to the Bundang apartment after leaving office."
The Democratic Party countered by saying, "Stop asking about the president's position and first clarify Representative Jang's position." Floor spokesperson Kim Hyunjung said, "The public is more curious about Representative Jang's housing issue than about the president's Bundang apartment," and clarified that the government's goal is "not to make the market an enemy, but to correct the structures that distort the market." The Democratic Party also stated that it would speed up related legislation, including the bill to establish a Real Estate Supervisory Agency.
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