Jeong Jeong-sik Criticizes President Lee's Apartment Sale and Mortgage Registration: "Circumventing Regulations"

Opening Statement at the People Power Party’s Floor Countermeasure Meeting on the 21st

Jeong Jeongsik, Floor Leader of the People Power Party, on July 21 criticized President Lee Jaemyung's sale of his owned apartment, calling it "a contradictory situation where, while burdensome regulations are imposed on the public, President Lee himself is personally teaching people ways to bypass those regulations using expedient methods."

At a party strategy meeting held at the National Assembly that day, Floor Leader Jeong said, "This incident clearly demonstrates how President Lee's government's real estate policies are distorting the market in abnormal ways," and emphasized, "Even now, it is necessary to ease abnormal loan regulations and shift real estate policy to focus on expanding private supply."

Jeong Jeongsik, Floor Leader of the People Power Party (center), is speaking at the party strategy meeting. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

The previous day, the Office of the President announced that President Lee and his spouse sold their apartment in Bundang-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province for 2.9 billion won and completed the transfer of ownership registration. In the transaction, the buyer of the apartment was designated as the obligor and a maximum amount secured mortgage was established for 1.77 billion won.

This is interpreted as the so-called 'seller financing' method, in which the seller—in this case, President Lee and his spouse—sets a mortgage on the apartment and receives part of the purchase price at a later date, until the buyer is able to raise the balance by disposing of their previous property.

Although the method itself is not illegal, the People Power Party has argued that since the transaction was completed without going through financial institution lending, it effectively circumvents loan regulations. An official from the Office of the President explained, "President Lee disposed of the property at the point when it became possible to do so, in order to demonstrate his commitment to normalizing real estate policy."

Floor Leader Jeong also stated, "While he demonized gap investment as speculation and strictly regulated loans, now he has sold his house on credit for himself," arguing, "Loans are tightly regulated and blocked for citizens hoping to realize their dream of homeownership, but President Lee has made significant profits through an expedient method that sidesteps loan regulations."

Additionally, Floor Leader Jeong criticized the Democratic Party of Korea regarding the expected passage of the 'Second Comprehensive Special Counsel Extension Bill' at the plenary session that day, saying, "The comprehensive special counsel system wastes the nation's investigative resources and shifts the resulting harm onto the public."

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