Housing policy clash dominates National Assembly's economic interpellation session

Economic policy interpellation at the National Assembly

Democratic Party: 'Seoul city government is blocking housing supply'

PPP: 'Loan regulations and punitive taxes are making tenants weep'

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Kim Yun-deok answers a question from People Power Party lawmaker Park Su-min during the seventh plenary session of the regular National Assembly session on Friday. [Yonhap]

Lawmakers clashed with the government over real estate policy and proposed tax reforms during the National Assembly's economic interpellation session Friday. The Democratic Party of Korea argued that the Seoul Metropolitan Government was obstructing housing supply, while the People Power Party pushed back against the administration's real estate tax overhaul, calling it a fine that restricts freedom of residence and movement.

Democratic Party lawmaker Bok Gi-wang said Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon had been running the city for more than six years yet was still blaming the Lee Jae Myung administration for Seoul's housing supply problems. "In fact, it is the Seoul city government that is blocking Seoul's housing supply using its own authority," he said.

Turning to the mayor's opposition to lifting the greenbelt designation in Seoul, Bok said, "Is it 'supply' when your own party does it, but 'destruction' when a government from a different party does the same thing?" He added that the phrase "Oh-ro-nam-bul" — a play on a Korean expression for applying double standards — had begun circulating within Seoul City Hall.

PPP lawmaker Park Su-min took the opposite view, arguing that the government had wasted a year that should have been spent revitalizing the private-sector housing ecosystem through the Sept. 7 supply measures. "In the meantime, loan regulations and punitive taxes have spread everywhere, and jeonse and monthly rent tenants are now in tears," he said.

Park went on to say that single-home owner-occupiers should not have to worry about taxes. "Taxes are what you collect while helping people with their economic activities and life-cycle needs," he said. "We need to distinguish between taxes and fines."

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Koo Yun-cheol rebuffed the characterization. "It is not punitive. It is a scheme that provides incentives for occupancy rather than mere ownership," he said, adding that housing policy cannot shift toward an occupancy-centered market if it keeps rewarding ownership.

Lawmakers from both sides also sparred Friday over a Prime Minister's Office staffer who attended a press conference held by independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon without disclosing their identity.

PPP lawmaker Song Eon-seog asked Prime Minister Han Seong-sook whether it was true that a Prime Minister's Office employee had recently surveilled a member of the National Assembly. "This is raising public suspicion that the Prime Minister's Office is still running a surveillance team as it did in the past," he said.

Democratic Party lawmaker Jeong Jin-uk pushed back in a follow-up question, saying the incident could not reasonably be considered surveillance. He then turned his fire on Han Dong-hoon, accusing him of "failing to shed his habits as a special prosecutor and using illegally obtained prosecutorial investigation information to attack Kim Seung-won, the nominee for justice minister."

Prime Minister Han said she regretted the unnecessary misunderstanding and controversy caused by the staffer identifying themselves as a "private citizen." "I offer my apologies to Lawmaker Han and to the public," she said.

eyre@heraldcorp.com