Oh Se-hoon Directly Criticizes President Lee: "Obsession With Actual Residence and Cultivation... The People Are Not Opponents to Fight"

Sharp Criticism of Government’s Comprehensive Farmland Investigation

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has criticized the government's comprehensive farmland investigation, stating, "The people are not the opponents the President should be fighting."

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon. Photo by Hyunmin Kim

On September 27, Mayor Oh posted on his Facebook page, "President Lee Jae-myung's 'obsession with occupancy' has now turned into an 'obsession with actual farming.' Under the pretense of preventing speculation, the government is measuring the complex lives of citizens with a single yardstick and treating those who do not fit into this mold as if they are potential speculators."

He continued, "Over the past year, the public has already experienced the side effects of President Lee's real estate policies. The government has pushed forward regulations under the principle of actual residence, and then, whenever these collided with reality, they have added exceptions and supplementary measures." He went on to say, "A similar situation is now unfolding with farmland. The government began with the principle that any land not farmed directly is speculation. When concerns arose that this did not match the realities of rural areas, they said they'd distinguish unavoidable cases such as those involving the elderly, those who are sick, or issues of inheritance."

Mayor Oh argued, "The problem is that reality is always more complicated than the government's narrow list of exceptions. The administration's confidence that it can perfectly distinguish between 'speculators' and 'well-intentioned landholders' by examining every individual circumstance is nothing but arrogance and egotism." He added, "As a result, it is always the ordinary people who end up feeling anxious and unsettled."

Mayor Oh stated, "I believe the reason for this lies in President Lee's lack of a national vision." He elaborated, "What will support Korea's future? How do we build competitiveness in the era of artificial intelligence and advanced industry? What kind of future are we preparing to offer the youth? If you are the President, you need to show the people a vision for the future." He then issued a direct criticism, "This government gained power through a state of emergency without preparing such a vision, so the main activity of state affairs has become picking someone to denounce and defeat."

He continued, "National reforms that are directly connected to citizens' lives and the future are on a totally different level from so-called 'crackdown-led' valley clean-ups." He called out, "Please, stop looking for 'opponents to tackle and eliminate' among the people themselves." He emphasized, "The people who own homes or land are not the enemies the President should be fighting. The real opponents are the rapidly changing security environment, the reshaping of the global economic order, low growth, declining birth rates, the crisis of industrial competitiveness, and the disappearing opportunities for young people."

Mayor Oh concluded, "Do not fight against the people—fight for them." He appealed, "Public expectations for the government have grown cold. I hope that the President truly senses the temperature of public sentiment."

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