At the start of the regular session of the National Assembly, the People Power Party is zeroing in on the Lee Jae-myung administration's real estate mismanagement and launching a fierce offensive at the government and ruling camp. With recent housing policy becoming the trigger for President Lee Jae-myung's approval rating to fall, the People Power Party is concentrating its firepower.
People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok on Oct. 2 criticized at a forum titled "Can young people in Korea buy a home?" held at the National Assembly in the morning, saying, "To the question of whether young people in Korea can buy a home, the Lee Jae-myung administration is answering, 'Don't even dream about it,'" and, "The core of youth policy is public rental housing, and while home purchases are supported, limiting eligibility to villas and officetels priced at 400 million won or less means telling young people not to even dream of apartments."
Jang mentioned Kim Yong-beom, who resigned as Blue House policy chief on the 1st, and said, "Kim is a representative cheerleader for public rentals, but when asked whether he could tell his own daughter to live in public rental housing, he yelled, asking how I could say such a thing to his daughter. That daughter now lives in an apartment in Bangbae-dong."
Jang said, "Praising villas or public rentals while their own children live in apartments is the true face of the Lee Jae-myung administration," adding, "The People Power Party will fight to help young people marry, have children, and build wealth."
People Power Party policy chief Lim Lee-ja also said, "Instead of a policy that forces young people to bounce around rental dwellings for life, we should help them keep the hope that if they work hard and save money, they can one day buy a home," adding, "We will boldly fix what blocks young people from building asset."
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and People Power Party lawmakers on the National Assembly's Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee held a dinner meeting on the 1st and agreed to coordinate on pressing real estate policy issues. From supplying dwellings in Yongsan Park to transferring authorization for redevelopment projects with 500 units or fewer to district heads, there is no shortage of Seoul housing policies where the ruling and opposition parties are locked in a standoff. The meeting came as the party and City Hall need to move in step.
An opposition official on the Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee said, "It was a venue for wide-ranging discussion on Seoul's real estate issues," adding, "We did not take up in-house matters such as the party chapter head issue and focused on ways to counter the government and ruling camp's real estate tyranny."