The Housing Policy Deliberation Committee (Jujeongsim), which decides whether to designate regulated zones such as speculative overheating districts and areas subject to adjustment, is back on the operating table for the first time in five years. Although it is a body that deliberates on real estate policies that can affect people's property rights, minutes are not disclosed, drawing repeated criticism that "black-box" decisions are being made.
According to the National Assembly's Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee on the 9th, 12 lawmakers including Kim Jae-seop of the People Power Party introduced an amendment to the Framework Act on Residence that would make it a rule to disclose minutes for Jujeongsim deliberations on designations and removals of speculative overheating districts and areas subject to adjustment.
Jujeongsim is a committee established within the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) to deliberate important housing policy matters such as designating and lifting regulated areas including speculative overheating districts, areas subject to adjustment, and regions where price ceilings on sales apply. The Minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport serves as the Chairperson. Of the 29 Commissioners, 14 are public officials and 15 are civilian Commissioners.
Decisions made by Jujeongsim have a large impact on the dwellings market, but what discussions Commissioners go through before reaching those decisions are not made public. Kim Jae-seop said, "Under current law, there is only an obligation to prepare and preserve minutes, and no obligation to disclose them, leading to criticism that it is difficult to verify the transparency and rationality of policy decisions."
To reduce the burden on Jujeongsim Commissioners, the amendment proposes disclosing minutes with Commissioners' information anonymized. Kim said, "Under the Bank of Korea Act, the Bank of Korea's monetary policy committee discloses its minutes anonymously after currency policy decisions to secure policy independence and transparency."
In particular, while the Enforcement Decree of the Housing Act allows the Chairperson to conduct deliberations in writing when there are unavoidable reasons to convene Jujeongsim, all Jujeongsim plenary sessions held last year were conducted only in writing. According to the Jujeongsim activity report disclosed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT), the sessions held on Mar. 14 and June 23 last year were written meetings rather than in-person meetings. The Jujeongsim convened two days before the announcement of the Oct. 15 measures that bound all of Seoul and 12 areas of Gyeonggi with triple regulations was also held in writing.
This is not the first controversy related to Jujeongsim. During the Moon Jae-in administration, as more areas were designated as regulated zones to curb the rapid rise in home prices, criticism of Jujeongsim grew. In 2021, the National Assembly improved Jujeongsim's structure and decision-making process. It made appointed Commissioners a majority of the whole, creating a structure that could prevent government-driven decisions, and mandated the preparation and storage of Jujeongsim minutes. To prevent excessive use of written meetings, it also introduced a written resolution procedure allowing decisions with written submissions from a majority of incumbent Commissioners and approval by a majority of those who submitted.
At the time, there were also opinions that Jujeongsim minutes should be disclosed, but the proposal was dropped on the grounds that Commissioners' freedom to express their views must be guaranteed.
Experts agreed that independent expression by Jujeongsim Commissioners is necessary, but also noted that the transparency of Jujeongsim, which decides real estate regulations, needs to be enhanced. Seo Jin-hyeong, a professor in the real estate law and administration department at Kwangwoon University, said, "As we enter an era when all information is disclosed, Jujeongsim also needs to transparently disclose the decision-making procedures for real estate policies."