Lee Jae-myung Faces Criticism for Debate Comments About Housing Prices
Real estate prices continues to be possibly the hottest topic that voters in Korea care about:
While varying degrees of despondency among non-homeowners are clearly present in the country, Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) infuriated voters in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, with an inadvertent comment during the four leading candidates’ second TV debate on Feb. 11. While discussing the country’s current real estate environment, he said that prices of apartments (the most common housing type in Korea) “with an area under 99 square meters in places like Gimpo are only around 200 million won to 300 million won” ($166,000 to $250,000).
Korea Times
While the average apartment in Seoul costs 1.2 billion won now ― a figure that the majority of low- to middle-income earners cannot afford ― Lee’s comment aroused objections that the range of 200 million won to 300 million won is way lower than what many members of the public thought. Lawmakers from the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) questioned whether the candidate is even aware of the country’s unstable housing market, which the current Moon Jae-in administration has been trying to control for so long.
You can read more at the link, but this is a rare misstep comment by Lee who is usually very polished in regards to what he says publicly.
Anyway President Moon has spent five years trying to do something about rising housing prices and has not succeeded so I would be surprised if either Presidential candidate will be able to do much to ease rising costs.
