Editorials
Property ownership by Cabinet nominees tests Lee’s antispeculation stance
Cabinet nominees’ real estate dealings highlight the gap between the government’s tough rhetoric and the realities facing homebuyers.
Apartment complexes in Songpa District, southern Seoul, are seen in July.
YONHAP
President Lee Jae Myung’s denunciation of “ruinous real estate speculation” has boomeranged to some of his Cabinet nominees in his ongoing reshuffle.
Finance and Economy Minister nominee Lee Hyung-il has owned an apartment in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, for 17 years but lived there for only four months, prompting questions over nonresidency. Land Minister nominee Hong Ji-sun bought a Seoul apartment last year for 1 billion won ($748,000), financing more than 530 million won through a mortgage and money borrowed from his mother-in-law, sparking accusations of excessive leveraged buying.
SMEs and Startups Minister nominee Lee So-young bought a Seoul apartment for 490 million won with borrowed money in 2016 and rented it out. A unit of the same size recently sold for 1.19 billion won, fueling allegations of gap investment. Gender Equality and Family Minister nominee Yong Hye-in faces questions over short-term property transactions, while Defense Minister nominee Kang Shin-chul faces allegations of registering a false residence.
The facts behind each allegation must be thoroughly examined during confirmation hearings. By President Lee’s standards, however, all could be branded speculators. Whether all their transactions truly constitute ruinous speculation is another matter.
People buy homes under complicated circumstances involving job transfers, children’s education and finances. Owning a home, moving to a larger one or seeking property likely to appreciate are common aspirations. The nominees’ cases ironically raise the question of how many Koreans could remain innocent under such standards.
The government, meanwhile, has squeezed the housing market with lending restrictions and heavier taxes while failing to deliver sufficient supply. Policies detached from reality have contributed to the longest-running rise in home prices on record, crushing dreams of homeownership and burdening ordinary people with surging jeonse (lump-sum deposits) and monthly rents.
Senior officials making property choices that contradict government policy recalls the former Moon Jae-in administration. It branded owners of multiple homes as speculators and pressured them to sell. Yet presidential chief of staff Noh Young-min sold his apartment in Cheongju instead of his Seoul property. Senior presidential secretary for civil affairs Kim Jo-won, who owned two homes in Gangnam, left office without selling either.
The government must escape this policy contradiction. It should recognize diverse housing realities and revise demand-suppression regulations to reflect actual conditions. Branding citizens as speculators by applying unrealistic standards will only deepen public distrust.
The nominees’ controversies demonstrate the problem with a policy framework that too readily equates ordinary efforts to secure housing or build assets with speculation. A government that imposes standards its own senior officials struggle to meet should reconsider those standards before condemning the public.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
