President Lee: "Normalizing the real estate market only requires accepting criticism without calculating votes"

According to The Financial News, President Lee Jae-myung on the morning of the 31st again stressed his determination to stabilize the real estate market, asking, "Does it seem impossible to normalize this ruinous real estate market?"
That day, President Lee shared an article on his social networking service (SNS) titled about a sharp brake being put on apartment prices in Seoul. Along with it, he wrote, "Do you think normalizing what is abnormal and curbing real estate speculation is bound to fail?"
President Lee stated, "‘Normalizing illegal valley businesses meant completing the clean-up of the valleys, and normalizing a stock market rife with illegality and fraud meant opening the era of 5,000 points on the KOSPI.’" He went on, "All it takes is trusting the people, accepting criticism, and not calculating votes," adding, "Normalizing the real estate market is far easier and much more important than reaching 5,000 on the KOSPI or cleaning up the valleys."
He continued, "I hope you seize the opportunity while it is there. You will soon come to realize that this was the last chance."
President Lee has repeatedly emphasized his commitment to stabilizing the real estate market through SNS. On the 25th, following a similar message on the 23rd, he addressed the end of the temporary suspension of heavier capital gains taxes on multiple-home owners, stressing that there would be no further extensions. He remarked, "If you thought they would just pass another law to extend it again, you were mistaken," and added, "The Republic of Korea is returning to a predictable, normal society," while also saying, "There is no government that can beat the market, but there is no market that can beat the government either."
At the time, President Lee also said, "Clinging on in an abnormal way must not be rewarded," and, "There are plenty of ways to normalize what is abnormal." In response to analyses claiming that reinstating heavier capital gains taxes on multiple-home owners would have little effect, he stressed, "If the tax you pay when you sell is lower than the tax you pay while holding on, would people still choose to hold on?" This has been interpreted as signaling his willingness to gradually introduce stronger property holding taxes alongside the resumption of heavier capital gains taxation.
In his New Year’s press conference on the 21st, President Lee said, "Taxes are a means of securing fiscal resources, so using them as a regulatory tool is not desirable and should be avoided as much as possible." However, he added, "But if circumstances arise where such measures are necessary, there is no reason not to use them just because they are not ideal. If real estate prices move beyond the range we anticipated and the situation becomes a social problem, then of course tax measures must also be mobilized."
cjk@fnnews.com Choi Jong-geun Reporter