Oh Sehoon: "Real Estate Is the Reason for Lee's Falling Approval... President Must Take Responsibility for Rental Supply Shortage"

Criticizing President Lee Jaemyung's Remarks at the Press Conference

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon stated on the 19th, "The real estate issue is a major reason for President Lee Jaemyung's declining approval ratings," and criticized, "The President should be held responsible for the disappearance of rental housing supply."

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is delivering a greeting at the opening ceremony of the 18th Seoul Architecture Culture Festival 2026 held at the Seoul Urban Architecture Exhibition Hall in Jung-gu, Seoul on September 15, 2026. Photo by Kim Hyunmin

Appearing on Sisa Journal TV's 'Jeon Young-ki's Big Shot' in the afternoon, Mayor Oh referred to President Lee's press conference from the previous day, saying, "The current government policies are more likely to drive up real estate prices than reduce them," and added, "There were no signs of a change in policy direction."

Regarding President Lee pointing to Mayor Oh and others as the cause of soaring housing prices in Seoul, Mayor Oh rebutted, "Former Mayor Park Won-soon canceled the designation of 389 redevelopment and reconstruction zones in Seoul, removing the potential supply of 430,000 housing units."

Mayor Oh also criticized President Lee's mention of "flattening" in relation to real estate policy, saying, "To gloss over the surge in housing prices in the northeastern and southwestern areas of Seoul by calling it 'flattening' is irresponsible."

Regarding the rental housing shortage in Seoul, Mayor Oh asserted, "The President is entirely responsible for this situation," and argued, "Excessive insistence on owner occupancy has resulted in the disappearance of properties available for rent." He added, "The President should be held accountable for causing the shortage of rental supply."

Mayor Oh said, "Considering either homeowners or those who do not live in their own homes as wrongdoers is solely the President's logic," and warned, "If real estate policy is approached merely for short-term effects, the market will not forgive it."

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is attending the opening ceremony of the 18th Seoul Architecture Culture Festival 2026 held at the Seoul Urban Architecture Exhibition Hall in Jung-gu, Seoul on September 15, 2026. Photo by Hyunmin Kim

Regarding the resignation of Kim Seung-won, Minister of Justice nominee, Mayor Oh commented, "It is insufficient to be taken as a signal that the President is willing to give up on withdrawing indictments." Regarding the recorded phone conversations between Tae-kyun Myung and Han-jung Kim being admitted as evidence in his own trial over alleged opinion poll payment on his behalf, Oh stated, "A highly convincing exculpatory evidence has now surfaced."

On the Lee Jaemyung administration's full-scale farmland investigation, Oh criticized the blanket approach, noting that individual farmers have varying circumstances regarding land leases and cultivation. Regarding the Yongsan Park housing supply proposal, he declared, "Not even a centimeter of Yongsan Park should be touched." He also criticized the creation of a future response fund based on the current semiconductor tax revenue boom as "a wrong decision."

The day prior, Mayor Oh also posted on Facebook, rebuffing President Lee's attempt to assign blame for the rise in Seoul housing prices to the previous administration and the Seoul Metropolitan Government, criticizing, "The President is trapped in his own mistaken convictions and is rejecting reality." He further argued that Mayor Park Won-soon's lifting of redevelopment and reconstruction districts undermined the supply infrastructure, and that the latest surge in housing prices coincides with President Lee taking office.

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