Lee Chan-jin, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, said on the 27th that he would sell one of the two apartments he owns in Gangnam, Seoul. After it emerged that the chief, who in his People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy days had said he wanted to put a clause in the Constitution banning multiple-home ownership, had until now been a multiple-home owner in Gangnam, he bowed his head amid criticism.
At a comprehensive parliamentary audit that day, when asked by Kang Min-guk of the People Power Party about his stance on the controversy over owning multiple homes, the chief said, "I intend to dispose of it rather than donate or transfer it to my children." Earlier, at the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) audit on the 21st, the chief had said that his family lives together in two apartments and that he would transfer one of them to his children.
The chief said, "At a time when many citizens are suffering from the dwellings issue, those remarks were highly inappropriate," and added, "I sincerely apologize as a public official."
Earlier, in 2017, while serving as an executive member of the Social Welfare Committee at People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD), the chief argued for the introduction of the "public concept of dwellings" in an external lecture and said, "For multiple-home owners, frankly speaking, I would like to include a prohibition clause in the Constitution."
At the time of the lecture, the chief owned one 47-pyeong (130㎡) unit at Daerim Apartment in Umyeon-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, but two years later, in December 2019, he purchased another Daerim Apartment of the same size and became a multiple-home owner. The chief also owns a retail space (112㎡) in Geumho-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, and a retail unit (33㎡) in an officetel in Jung-gu, Seoul.