Four Years in Office, President Moon Has "Nothing to Say" When It Comes to Real Estate

[경향신문]

Were the Wishes of the Merchants in the Market Reflected? A merchant watches the broadcast of the special address marking four years in office by President Moon Jae-in on the morning of May 10 at Inwang Market in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul. Kwon Do-hyun

On May 10, President Moon Jae-in said, “We failed to achieve the goal of stabilizing real estate prices, and we were strictly judged for this failure in the last by-elections.”

This day, in a special address marking four years in office and in the ensuing Q&A session at Cheongwadae, the president said, “The most regrettable issue in the last four years was real estate.” He acknowledged the failure of real estate policies during his term in office and once again apologized.

The president said, “The results of the real estate policy should have born fruit with stable prices, but we failed to achieve this. When it comes to real estate, the government really has nothing it can say.” He also said, “On top of this, the corruption at the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) was revealed and we received the judgment of the people in the last by-elections, which woke us up like the tap of a meditation bamboo clapper.”

The president continued and said, “We will do our utmost to stabilize the real estate market while surely protecting the end user.” “We will expand various policy support measures to ease the burden on end users, so that low-income households, newlyweds, and young people can realize the dream of purchasing their own homes,” he also said. He seemed to have in mind the measures being reviewed by the ruling party, such as the easing of loan regulations for people who don’t own a home and property tax cuts for single-home owners.

President Moon said, “The fundamental direction of policies, such as putting an end to real estate speculation, protecting the end user, and stabilizing the market by expanding housing supply, cannot change,” but added, “Our goal of enforcing stronger measures to root out real estate speculation has in reality made it more difficult or put a heavier burden on end users in purchasing homes to live in, and this requires adjustments. The ruling party, government and Cheongwadae are currently discussing these issues.”

As for the COVID-19 vaccination, the president said, “Still, it is true that it would have been better if inoculation could have commenced a little bit earlier,” and honestly expressed his thoughts on the heated debate surrounding the late actions for vaccination. However, the president also said, “Despite our circumstances--lack of a domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine and inability to make massive investments ahead of time--disease control authorities are implementing vaccination plans as scheduled, something which should be given due credit.” He further said, “We will continue our efforts to secure additional vaccines to prepare for new virus strains and the possible need for a third booster shot, and to expand vaccination to children and minors as well as to secure supplies for next year.”

He also said, “All government capabilities will be mobilized and private-sector vitality will be enhanced so that our economy will grow at more than 4% for the first time in eleven years,” and added, “We will ensure that aggressive expansionary fiscal spending spearheads economic recovery and prepare bold measures to boost consumption and domestic demand in step with the progress of our disease control efforts.” The Ministry of Economy and Finance had raised this year’s economic growth target from the existing 3.2% to over 3.5% at the end of April, but the president further raised this to over 4%.

As for the U.S. Joe Biden administration completing its review of policies on North Korea, President Moon welcomed the direction of the Biden administration’s North Korea policy, which seeks a flexible, gradual and practical approach through diplomacy based on the Singapore Declaration. He further stated that in a bilateral summit, South Korea and the United States would more closely coordinate policies to encourage North Korea to more quickly step onto the path of dialogue.

The opposition parties criticized the president’s speech with one voice. Bae June-young, spokesperson for the People Power Party said, “There was no reflection or apology, which the people had yearned to hear, anywhere,” and criticized, “It was just all self-praise.” Yi Dong-yeong, senior spokesperson for the Justice Party also said, “He should have presented an apology, not self-praise.”