Party-administration rift draws fire: 'Ruling party tucked its tail'
Jeong Jeom-sik urges full reversal of real estate policy
Jeong Hee-yong: Democratic Party revealing intent to free Lee from trial
The People Power Party on Friday sharply criticized the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and the government for sending mixed signals on the comprehensive real estate holding tax, saying the party's "rebellion show" over the levy had "collapsed in four days."
PPP Floor Leader Jeong Jeom-sik made the remarks at a floor strategy meeting at the National Assembly on Friday morning, citing Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok's comments the previous day on the party's YouTube channel. "It would be better to consistently uphold the basic principles of the real estate policy that the party and the administration are pursuing," Jeong quoted Kim as saying.
Jeong said the ruling party had backed down just four days after demanding at a senior party-government meeting on Sunday that the government unify the comprehensive real estate holding tax deduction for single-homeowners at a publicly assessed value of 1.4 billion won ($1.05 million), regardless of whether the owner actually lives in the property.
He added that President Lee Jae Myung was reported to have stressed at a Cheong Wa Dae dinner Thursday that the party and the administration must move as one. "This amounts to the president forcibly silencing the party — telling them not to say anything different about the holding tax," Jeong said.
Jeong then turned his fire directly on Democratic Party leader Kim. "It is simply pitiful to see a hand-picked party leader who cannot utter a word in front of a president who rules by force," he said.
Jeong doubled down on his call for a wholesale shift in the government's real estate policy direction, saying the ruling party should have demanded nothing less. "The holding tax deduction is no more than the tip of a massive iceberg — the failure of the Lee Jae Myung administration's real estate policy," he said. "What the ruling party should have demanded of the government is a full reversal of its real estate policy direction."
He specified that such a reversal should include scrapping the tightened owner-occupancy requirement enforced through the land transaction permit system, reversing the stricter jeonse loan regulations, and changing the government's lukewarm stance on promoting reconstruction and redevelopment.
"Treating the taxes paid by citizens as fodder for a pre-election political show is something that will face the stern judgment of taxpayers," Jeong said. "We demand this of the Lee Jae Myung administration: the public does not care whether the party and the government are out of step with each other."
He urged the government to address what he called the more pressing issue facing citizens — the jeonse and monthly rent crisis in the greater Seoul area. "Jeonse supply has dried up and monthly rent prices are surging. We urge the government to come up with measures to break through this painful reality," he said.
Meanwhile, PPP Secretary-General Jeong Hee-yong kept up the party's criticism of justice minister nominee Lee Yong-cheol on Friday. Jeong said the Democratic Party, after pushing through a special prosecutor bill targeting fabricated indictments, was "openly revealing its determination to succeed in a project of legal escape — getting President Lee's trial thrown out."
Jeong added that the nominee had repeatedly dodged questions about dropping the indictment, saying the questions were "based on preconceptions" or "not appropriate to answer." "What is the difference between giving vague answers and being unable to say a single word — 'I will not drop the indictment' — and ultimately saying you will?" he said.
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