Supreme Council member Lee Un-ju of the Democratic Party of Korea and Rebuilding Korea Party leader Cho Kuk clashed over the concept of public ownership of land. The internal friction within the Democratic Party over a merger appears to be spreading into a confrontation with the Rebuilding Korea Party.
On the 1st, Supreme Council member Lee Un-ju said on Facebook, "The Rebuilding Korea Party is putting the concept of public ownership of land forward as a core policy, and leader Cho Kuk also recently expressed a strong will to push it during the leadership election process, but this is highly likely to conflict with the spirit of the Constitution that guarantees private property rights and does not fit the reality of today's Korea, which is already a mature capitalist society."
Lee said, "The concept of public ownership of land might have been a subject for debate some 30 years ago before the collapse of communism, when ideological disputes were fierce, but it is clearly out of step with today's reality, where the AI transformation, attracting global capital, and technological competition have become matters of national survival, and it is hard to avoid the assessment that it is anachronistic," adding, "For people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, who are growing within an advanced capitalist order and thinking about asset formation and expanding opportunities, this is something that won't resonate and will only leave them dumbfounded."
Lee also said the Rebuilding Korea Party's policy touting the concept of public ownership of land does not align with President Lee Jae-myung or the Democratic Party. Lee added, "The president has recently presented strong real estate supply measures within the constitutional order, but if calls for a merger with the Rebuilding Korea Party, which is advocating for legislation on the concept of public ownership of land, gain traction, even the president's sound reform drive could be diluted, distorted, and left open to attack."
Lee said, "As long as the Rebuilding Korea Party does not abandon its policy of pushing legislation on the concept of public ownership of land, which has elements that may be unconstitutional, talks of a merger are impossible," adding, "As the ruling party, our Democratic Party has not even considered such an idea as a policy matter."
In response, leader Cho Kuk said on Facebook, "This is absurd," adding, "In 1989, the Constitutional Court clearly ruled that the concept of public ownership of land itself is constitutional. Nevertheless, it is unbelievable that the Democratic Party, not the People Power Party, is mounting a red-baiting offensive over the concept of public ownership of land."
Cho said, "The Rebuilding Korea Party is pushing for legislation on the concept of public ownership of land after removing the unconstitutional elements identified by the Constitutional Court in 1989," and added that he would rebut Lee's remarks through the inaugural ceremony and forum of the New Public Ownership of Land Legislative Promotion Task Force scheduled for the 2nd.