Jang Dong-hyeok urges President Lee: "Control your anger and return to reason instead of ‘shouting politics’"

According to The Financial News, President Lee Jae-myung has been posting a series of messages on social media strongly condemning real estate speculation. In response, Jang Dong-hyeok of the PPP sharply criticized him on the 2nd, saying, "It seems he cannot control his anger because he has failed to bring housing prices under control."
At the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea that day, Jang remarked, "These days he seems completely absorbed in 'shouting politics,' 'shouting economics,' and 'shouting diplomacy.'"
Jang went on, "He lashes out at the opposition, the media, and the people, and even resorts to all kinds of crude expressions. He even expressed his anger in the Khmer language, but he is directing it at entirely the wrong target," adding, "Before blaming the people, I hope he will first look at himself."
He continued, "The apartment President Lee owns in Bundang has jumped by a staggering 600 million won in just one year," and pointed out, "When he became a lawmaker representing Incheon Metropolitan City, he said he would sell it starting in 2022, but he still has not sold it. If he has failed to sell it for four years, it is not that he could not sell it, but that he chose not to."
Jang argued, "When it looks as if the president himself is clinging to one prime property and holding out, no policy will have any real effect," and asked, "If yelling could bring down housing prices, why has he not done that simple thing until now?"
Jang also said, "He suddenly floated the idea of a sugar tax, then when public opinion turned negative, he lashed out at the media for allegedly distorting it as a tax," and added, "Ordinary people are already struggling, and low-income citizens will be hit even harder. I wonder whether it somehow becomes acceptable if you call it a ‘levy’ instead of a tax."
Regarding President Lee’s post in the Khmer language that read, "If you mess with Koreans, you will be ruined. Does that sound like an empty threat?", Jang said, "This was a crime committed by the Chinese criminal underworld (Heishehui, or 'Black Society')," and stressed, "He should have confronted China in Chinese. If China is the main culprit, will he again respond by saying, 'So what do you want me to do?'"
Jang stated, "The president’s words are policy in themselves. The weight of his words is inevitably different," and urged, "Social media is a space for communication, not a place to intimidate the public. I hope he will control his anger and present rational policy measures."
On President Donald Trump of the United States declaring that he would raise tariffs, Jang said, "President Lee, who starts by shouting whenever something displeases him even slightly, has not been able to say a single word about the U.S. tariff negotiations," and claimed, "He is taking a slap in the face from President Donald Trump and then venting his anger on innocent citizens at home."
Jang further argued, "Kim Jung-kwan, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy of South Korea, who went to negotiate tariffs, returned empty-handed," and added, "President Lee has not even managed to make a single phone call to President Donald Trump, and Prime Minister Kim Min-seok of the Republic of Korea, who boasted about establishing a hotline, has done nothing at all."
Jang said, "If the Special Act on Investment in the United States is the problem, he can push it through the way he has rammed other bad laws through," and urged, "If he does not want to be dismissed as an armchair warrior, the president himself must step forward and resolve this."
Song Eon-seok, parliamentary leader of the People Power Party (PPP), also criticized, saying, "Posting on social media four times in a single day, and seven times in total, to tell people to sell their homes by May 9 is a form of politics that intimidates the entire nation. Is this something he learned from President Donald Trump, who announces tariff hikes via social media?" He added, "Handling such a sensitive issue as real estate through social media amounts to intimidation directed at the market."
Song went on, "After his so-called 'hotel economics,' he now keeps repeating the baseless claim that 'no market can defeat the government' and is spreading a kind of threatening, shouting economics. This only heightens public anxiety and distrust," and suggested, "What we need is a soft-landing strategy to stabilize real estate prices, including appropriate supply-side measures."
haeram@fnnews.com Lee Hae-ram Reporter