Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who welcomed President Lee Jae-myung's announcement of a national housing policy forum to be held July 23, said the key agenda must focus on supply measures rather than taxes. Oh tours the Sangbong food street in Jungnang-gu, Seoul. [Yonhap]
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who welcomed President Lee Jae-myung's announcement of a national housing policy forum to be held July 23, said the key agenda must focus on supply measures rather than taxes. Oh tours the Sangbong food street in Jungnang-gu, Seoul. [Yonhap]

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on Sunday welcomed President Lee Jae-myung's plan to personally chair a national public forum on real estate policy on July 23, but said the central agenda must be supply measures — not taxes.

Writing on Facebook that day, Oh said he was glad the president and the government intended to hear directly from the public on housing issues. "I think it is fortunate that a forum for this kind of discussion has been created, even at this stage," he said.

However, Oh said he was concerned the forum could once again devolve into a debate over who should bear a heavier tax burden. "Looking at the discussion topics the president suggested on social media, I worry this grand forum may end up focused yet again on who should pay more taxes," he said.

Earlier, while visiting Mongolia, President Lee had cited property holding taxes, the relationship between holding taxes and transaction taxes, and the use of holding tax revenue as key issues for the forum.

Oh said the forum must above all address the hardships people are experiencing on the ground. "In Seoul and across the Greater Seoul area, sale prices, jeonse and monthly rent are all rising together — what you might call a 'triple rise,'" he said. "The first question the forum must ask is: how do we relieve the suffering of the people?"

He went on to say the discussions should center on the most effective measures to accelerate housing supply, how to revitalize redevelopment and reconstruction projects, and how to stabilize the jeonse and monthly rent market.

"What people are struggling with most right now is the reality of home prices and jeonse and monthly rent all surging at once," Oh said. "If the forum is truly a place to hear the people's voices, it must confront this most urgent issue directly," he urged.

He added that a forum that sidesteps the reality causing people the greatest pain cannot be called one that listens to voices from the ground. "I hope this forum will faithfully capture the desperate voices of the people and serve as a starting point for building real solutions — ones that people can actually feel in their daily lives," he said.


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