People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok on the 16th pushed back against President Lee Jae-myung's public query on regulating owners of multiple homes, saying, "Because of the president, an unfilial child cries at the very start of the new year."
Jang wrote on Facebook that day that, for the Lunar New Year holiday, he visited the rural home in Boryeong, South Chungcheong, where his 95-year-old mother lives, adding, "Because of what the president posted on X, my mother is very worried." He went on, "She even said, 'If we have to get rid of this house, I should just hurry up and die,'" and, "She was angry, asking why I came back to my hometown to get cursed at when I could just do politics in Seoul."
Earlier that morning, the president shared a related article on X and asked Jang, "Shouldn't we regulate owners of multiple homes and should we maintain preferential financial and tax treatment?" The ruling and opposition parties immediately clashed over it. According to materials released by the National Assembly Public Officials Ethics Committee in Oct. last year, Jang was recorded as owning all or part of the equity in six dwellings, including an apartment in Guro-dong, Seoul, and a single-family house in Boryeong.
Jang had explained that "the total actual transaction price amounts to about 850 million won and they are for actual residence or have other purposes." The People Power Party labeled the president's message an attempt to "slap a protect-the-multiple-homeowners frame" and went on the counterattack.
Chief spokesperson Park Sung-hoon criticized in a commentary, "Our resolve to eradicate real estate speculation is clear, but we cannot agree with demonizing a particular group."