President Lee Jae-myung on the 18th posted on X (formerly Twitter) an article titled "The social evil is not multiple-home owners, but politicians who made owning multiple homes turn into money." It means that politicians who granted special favors so that holding multiple homes for investment and speculation would yield economic gains and thereby fueled speculation are the biggest obstacle to normalizing the real estate market.
Since then, starting with the notice of "ending the grace period for heavy taxation on capital gains for multiple-home owners" on the 23rd of last month, President Lee has responded to the opposition party and some media that opposed clawing back tax benefits for multiple-home owners with harsh expressions such as "devils," "kindergarten level," and "eok-kka (nitpicking for the sake of it)." When People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok criticized President Lee for "labeling multiple-home owners as a social evil," Lee countered that such a claim constitutes a distortion of the facts.
That day, President Lee wrote, "In a capitalist market economy, one cannot condemn the mere holding of multiple homes that does not deviate from laws and systems as a social evil," adding, "However, if politicians (in legislation and administration) who have the authority to design and implement laws and systems do not make 'undesirable' multiple-home ownership a burden or ban it, and instead grant special favors that make it profitable and encourage speculation, that is the real problem."
Lee said, "If holding multiple homes burdens the housing market by causing surging home prices and housing insecurity, it is undesirable, but it is also not easy to ban by law," adding, "If so, politicians who oversee laws and systems should, through regulations, taxes, and financial systems in the legislative and administrative process, make it a loss rather than a profit so that people avoid owning multiple homes."
Lee said, "There are plenty of ways, and the people have entrusted politicians with such authority," adding, "However, the very politicians who should make ownership of 'undesirable multiple homes' a burden rather than a profit not only leave special favors for multiple-home owners unattended but also stoke multiple-home speculation, and even commit conflicts of interest by seeking windfall gains from multiple-home ownership themselves."
He continued, "If we must single out a social evil to criticize, it should be the politicians who created and implemented bad systems, not the multiple-home owners who used them." He also said, "Even if you invoke conscience and morality and strongly urge people not to buy up houses, if there is profit in owning multiple homes, they will do it; if it is a loss, even if you hold a ritual imploring them to become multiple-home owners, they will not do it."
Lee added a caveat, saying, "There is a lot of distortion, so let me add a footnote," and wrote, "No one takes issue with a parents' country house, a private vacation home, or a second house in an area at risk of extinction that are unrelated to social problems stemming from a shortage of dwellings. The government has not the slightest intention of telling people to sell such houses." He went on to say that the administration will claw back special favors granted to multiple homes for investment and speculation and strictly impose burdens commensurate with ownership.
Leader Jang wrote on Facebook the previous day, "It is truly pitiful and worrisome to see President Lee Jae-myung devote himself to agitation on social media, unconditionally defining multiple-home owners as a social evil." In response to criticism from the ruling camp that "Jang Dong-hyeok owns six dwellings," he said, "It's a holiday, so I came to the country house where my 95-year-old mother lives," adding, "Because of the article the president posted, my mother's worries are great."
He added, "Even amid the crisis of population extinction, ordinary people in the provinces who protect their hometown houses and their mothers' residences are not speculators but patriots who support the regional economy with their whole bodies," and said, "To demonize these people as devils and inflame the public's 'jealousy' with number games can only be described as low-level politics."