President Lee Jae Myung and Prime Minister Han Seong-sook speak during a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung and Prime Minister Han Seong-sook speak during a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday. [Yonhap]

The sale of an apartment in Bundang, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, owned by President Lee Jae Myung is nearing completion.

A Cheong Wa Dae official said Tuesday that a final contract for the Bundang apartment — which Lee listed for sale in February — is expected to be signed soon. Once the contract is signed, Lee will no longer own any property.

A preliminary contract had already been signed, and the parties then entered the land transaction permit process. The district office recently granted the permit, leaving only the final contract to be concluded.

The official pushed back against some media reports that the apartment had been sold "within five months," calling the characterization inaccurate. "The buyer under the final contract is the same person who signed the preliminary contract — it simply took time because of the land transaction permit process," the official said.

Lee had listed the Bundang apartment in February at 2.9 billion won ($1.93 million), roughly 10 percent below market price, to signal his commitment to normalizing the real estate market. The apartment, jointly registered in his name and his wife's, was the couple's only home.

At the time, Lee wrote on social media that he had bought the apartment in 1998 — his first and only home purchase, made during the IMF financial crisis after years of renting. "It is a home where I raised my children and spent my youth, so my attachment to it is worth many times more than the money," he said.

He added that money had not been his reason for buying the apartment, nor was it his reason for selling. "As the person ultimately responsible for real estate policy, I decided it was better to set an example for everyone as a public official than to hand opponents a political target over a housing issue," he said, while acknowledging the sale would likely yield a financial gain.

Lee also remarked during Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, which was broadcast live, that he no longer owns a home. The comment came as the meeting discussed the criteria for defining ultra-high-priced housing.


sang@heraldcorp.com