Park Joo-min Says, "Jung Won-oh’s Housing Policy Is Weaker Than Oh Se-hoon’s"

[The Financial News] Park Joo-min, a DPK candidate in the Seoul mayoral primary, on the 3rd criticized fellow candidate Jung Won-oh’s housing supply policy as "weaker than that of Oh Se-hoon, the Seoul mayor."
During a televised debate for the Seoul mayoral primary candidates hosted that day by Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), Park turned to Jung and asked, "You pledged to expand the contribution of private-sector public rental housing, such as purchased and constructed rentals, and to supply 23,000 units during your term. Is that correct?"
He continued, "What frustrates me and is hard to understand is that Mayor Oh has said he will provide more than 24,000 public rental housing units in 2026 alone," adding, "Jung is saying he will supply, over four years in office, fewer units than what Mayor Oh plans to supply in a single year."
Park added, "I have thought before that Jung’s philosophy and policy direction on real estate differ from those of the DPK, and that they may even be weaker than those of Mayor Oh."
In response, Jung countered, "The target of 23,000 units refers only to youth housing. The total supply is 140,000 units."
Addressing candidate Jeon Hyun-hee, Park argued that in order to restart construction of the Seobu Line, which has stalled as it is currently led by the private sector and faces cost burdens, the option of converting it into a state-funded project should also be considered.
Jeon responded, "The current government policy is to inject a lot of fiscal resources into regional areas and, as much as possible, have Seoul rely on its own finances," and added, "If we institutionalize a way to factor construction cost inflation into the project cost burden that is causing problems, we can carry it out within a sufficiently short period and at a much lower cost."


gowell@fnnews.com Kim Hyeong-gu Reporter