Oh Sehoon Unable to Speak at Cabinet Meeting; President Lee Requests Report on Housing Supply Shortage

President Lee Jae-myung Presides Over Cabinet Meeting on the 14th

Oh Sehoon Requests, "May I Say a Word?"

Han Seong-sook Responds, "I Will Receive Your Submission in Writing, Mayor"

On July 14, President Lee Jae-myung requested, “Please include in the (Seoul City) report how reconstruction and redevelopment are progressing, and the current status explaining why there is a shortage of housing supply.”

President Lee made this request to Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who attended the Cabinet Meeting as an attendee at the Blue House that day. Mayor Oh attended the Cabinet Meeting alongside Min Hyeong-bae, Special Mayor of the Gwangju-Jeonnam Integration Area. This was Mayor Oh’s first participation in a Cabinet Meeting since being elected in the June 3 local elections, and it had been approximately 11 months since his previous attendance in August of the previous year.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is attending the Cabinet Meeting presided over by President Lee Jae-myung at the Blue House on July 14, 2026. Photo by Yonhap News

After receiving a briefing on the ‘Plan to Gather Public Opinions on Real Estate Policy’ that day, President Lee directly asked viewers watching the live broadcast for their opinions. He requested that people share via YouTube chat what they believed would be an appropriate threshold for the regulation of luxury homes. Lim Ki-geun, head of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, explained, “Many people wrote 3 billion won.” In response, President Lee remarked, “That’s too harsh. If it’s for tax purposes, isn’t it really only a little over 1 billion won?”

At this, Mayor Oh asked Prime Minister Han Seong-sook, “May I say a word?” Since Mayor Oh was not a cabinet member but an attendee, he needed to be granted the right to speak. However, Prime Minister Han said, “There will be a national public debate on real estate, so I hope we can move on. If you have anything to share, please submit it in writing.” Mayor Oh responded, “Just now, Seoul City’s prepared report was delivered to the policy chief, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs,” and added, “Since I don’t think I’ll be given an opportunity to speak, I’ll substitute with the report.”

Earlier, Mayor Oh had expressed his intention to convey public opinion on real estate and make policy recommendations to President Lee at the Cabinet Meeting. Last month, Mayor Oh stated, “Rather than going to the Cabinet Meeting to argue, I requested the Blue House to give me a chance to calmly share my thoughts on issues in the housing market.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.