People Power Party lawmaker Kim Jae-seop. [Yonhap]
People Power Party lawmaker Kim Jae-seop. [Yonhap]

People Power Party lawmaker Kim Jae-seop took aim at the Lee Jae Myung government Tuesday, questioning why it was asking 50 million citizens to help fix a real estate crisis of its own making.

In a Facebook post Tuesday, Kim said he had raised the government's real estate failures during a national audit session, only to receive a response from Office for Government Policy Coordination Chief Lim Ki-geun suggesting that citizens should step up and help resolve the problem together. "It's an answer that makes you want to wash your ears out," Kim said.

He added, "Above all, why should the public — the victims — share responsibility with the Lee Jae Myung government, the perpetrator?"

Kim said countless real estate experts had already criticized the Lee government's policy direction, and the public had cried out against it. "Did someone threaten President Lee Jae Myung into pursuing this real estate policy? He did as he pleased, turned South Korea into a real estate hell, and now wants to pass the blame to the public — I can't even laugh at it," he said.

He went on to say, "What nerve does the government have to demand anything more from the people?" and asked, "The government is running around like an untethered foal — what can powerless citizens possibly do?"

He also said, "Because the government sees everyone trying to buy a home as a speculator, you get this kind of talk coming out of that kind of policy."

Earlier, at the national audit of the Office for Government Policy Coordination before the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee, Lim had responded to Kim's criticism that the government's real estate policy had failed by saying it was "faithfully laying the infrastructure needed to stabilize the real estate market."

Lim added that resolving the problem required all-out effort. "The government and the National Assembly must both work hard, and every single citizen needs to apply 'full-court pressing' to solve this," he said.

When Kim pressed him — asking whether he was diffusing responsibility onto the public and what exactly he was demanding of citizens — Lim clarified: "I am not saying responsibility should be distributed. I am saying full-court pressing is needed."

Regarding the exchange, the prime minister's office said Lim's remarks were intended to convey that an all-out response was needed on the real estate issue, and that the government would communicate with various stakeholders and incorporate public opinion into policy.


yul@heraldcorp.com