Lee and Oh should meet on housing policy

Chang Se-jeong

The author is an editorial writer at the JoongAng Ilbo. 

The June 3 local elections were unusual in that both the leader of the ruling party and the leader of the main opposition party were branded as losers. Amid the fallout, the biggest story was Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon’s reelection. Protests around Olympic Park in Songpa District, southern Seoul, by voters claiming their voting rights were damaged have continued for more than 20 days, while calls to abolish the National Election Commission have grown louder. Their new terms begin July 1.

Against this backdrop, Oh said he has asked the Blue House for a meeting with President Lee Jae Myung before Lee left for Europe on June 9 to discuss property holding taxes, capital gains taxes and housing issues. Oh reportedly told the presidential office on June 20, “Please invite me before a Cabinet meeting. Tea would be fine. A meal would be even better.”

On June 22, Oh again requested a meeting with Lee on housing policy through social media. After the local elections, officials, including Kim Yong-beom, presidential director of national policy, repeatedly raised the need to strengthen property taxation in July. Oh pushed back sharply, saying taxes are “not a last resort but a tool that should not be used.” His concern is that turning to taxes amid a “triple surge” in home prices, jeonse deposits (Korea's lump-sum rent deposits) and monthly rents would further fuel the market.

On Wednesday, Oh appealed again, saying, “I have not yet received an answer, but if given the opportunity, I will convey Seoul’s views to the president.” The Democratic Party criticized him for “politics of blame-shifting,” saying he was putting responsibility for his incompetence and failures on the central government.

Under Article 8, Paragraph 1 of the Regulations on Cabinet Meetings, the Seoul mayor may attend Cabinet meetings and speak, though without voting rights. Since direct local elections began in 1995, Seoul mayors had regularly attended Cabinet meetings, but they were excluded under the Roh Moo-hyun administration and later allowed back under the Lee Myung-bak administration. Oh has attended two of more than 50 Cabinet meetings held since the Lee administration began.

If important proposals can be made through that authority, why does Oh keep seeking a separate meeting? He says Cabinet meetings, because they are public, are not an ideal setting for in-depth discussion. “If I am given just about 30 minutes separately, I do not want to go into a Cabinet meeting and argue. I want to calmly explain the problems I see in the housing market,” Oh said. Seoul City says it wants to explain the likely impact of tax revisions based on field data and signs of shrinking jeonse supply.

From the Blue House’s perspective, a one-on-one meeting with a local government chief from another party could be burdensome, especially because it would not be a formal meeting between the president and party leaders. In 2016, Park Won-soon, then Seoul mayor from the Democratic Party (DP), attended a Cabinet meeting during the Choi Soon-sil influence-peddling scandal and called for President Park Geun-hye to step down.

For Lee, refusing the meeting may be the easy choice. But viewed differently, meeting the Seoul mayor could bring political benefits. Lee’s approval rating has fallen sharply since the local elections and negative assessments now exceed positive ones. The ruling party is showing deep divisions ahead of its leadership race as the “Myung-Chung war” (a Korean shorthand combining the “Myung” from Lee Jae Myung's name and the “Chung” from DP leader Jung Chung-rae's name, referring to an escalating power struggle within the governing camp) intensifies. At such a time, listening to the effects of housing policy on livelihoods could help restore confidence.

There is a constructive precedent. In 2003, despite opposition from his aides, President Roh Moo-hyun allowed Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak to attend a Cabinet meeting and explain the Cheonggye Stream restoration project. If Lee hears Seoul’s assessment, which may differ from views inside the Blue House or the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, a better housing response may emerge. A “housing meeting” should take place around the July 7 Cabinet meeting, the first after Oh begins his new term.