These days, a joke is said to be popular among government ministry officials: "If the work is hard, buy one more home right in the middle of Gangnam, Seoul." After President Lee Jae-myung said last month regarding real estate policy that "even a staffer who copies draft paper must not be a multi-home owner," officials in busy departments are said to be trading this wisecrack among themselves.
The Blue House and the government say there is "no personnel policy that deliberately excludes multi-home owners." But in government circles, some interpret the continued vacancies in key ranks at ministries and public institutions handling dwellings policy as not unrelated to the Blue House's sensitivity to negative public opinion about multi-home owners.
According to ChosunBiz reporting compiled on the 4th, the Deputy Minister for Housing and Land, a Grade 1 post that oversees real estate policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, has been vacant since early last month. After former Deputy Minister Kim Gyu-cheol expressed his intention to resign due to health issues, no successor has been appointed. The President appoints this post on the recommendation of the Minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT), and it is said to be filled soon. However, an official at MOLIT said, "The Deputy Minister for Housing and Land is such a core position that people even say it is a step up to Vice Minister within MOLIT," adding, "Everyone finds it puzzling that it is being left vacant at all."
In addition, the Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH), a public institution under MOLIT, has been in a "proxy of a proxy" system for nearly four months. After former President Lee Han-joon, appointed under the previous administration, stepped down at the end of Oct. last year with three months left in his three-year term, former Executive Vice President Lee Sang-uk, who was acting president, also resigned in Jan. this year. The LH president is likewise appointed by the President on the recommendation of the MOLIT Minister. LH recommended three presidential candidates through an open call late last year, but it is reported the government rejected them on the grounds they were insiders. LH conducted a new open call last month.
These posts share the common trait of handling policies that heavily influence the real estate market. As the vacancies drag on, government circles speculate, "As society's view of multi-home owners has grown stricter, the Blue House and the government are struggling to find candidates, and candidates themselves may feel burdened."
Since taking office, President Lee Jae-myung has signaled a policy of strengthening regulations on speculative multi-home holders to stabilize the real estate market. On Mar. 22, on X (formerly Twitter), he wrote, "I instructed the Blue House and the cabinet to exclude multi-home owners, owners of high-priced non-owner-occupied dwellings, and those who excessively hold real estate from the discussion, drafting, reporting, and approval processes of housing and real estate policy." At a cabinet meeting last month, he said, "We must ensure that conflicts of interest can never infiltrate (real estate policy). Even a staffer who copies paper must not be a multi-home owner."
As the president has issued strong daily criticism of multi-home owners with speculative motives and public opinion has turned negative toward multi-home public officials, a joke is said to be trending among civil servants: "If you want to be less busy, become a multi-home owner." An official at a government ministry said, "It's not that we can actually afford to buy a home in Gangnam, Seoul," adding, "Because the workload is heavy, we blow off steam by making these wisecracks." Another ministry official said, "They say there is no personnel principle that excludes multi-home owners, but it's true that they are not viewed favorably," adding, "When someone is appointed to a key post, there is now a stronger tendency to look first at how many dwellings the person owns rather than their job performance or reputation."