Yoo Seong-min says President Lee’s remark that “home prices are falling to a surprising degree” is “close to sorcery and brainwashing”

[Financial News] Yoo Seong-min, a former People Power Party lawmaker, criticized President Lee Jae-myung’s remarks about falling home prices, saying, “At this point, it’s not a matter of reason or common sense—it’s close to some kind of sorcery or brainwashing.”
On the 3rd, Yoo wrote on Facebook, “Seoul apartment prices have risen for 90 consecutive weeks, jeonse and monthly rents are soaring, and the balloon effect is spreading across the entire Seoul metropolitan area, yet the president keeps talking about a collapse in home prices. What kind of psychological warfare is he waging against the public?”
This is seen as targeting remarks President Lee made on X the same day: “We are already devising contingency measures in case home prices fall sharply, including large-scale government purchases for use as public rental housing.” At a Cabinet meeting, President Lee said, “Actual transaction prices in major areas are falling to a surprising degree.”
Regarding President Lee’s appeal not to rush into buying a home and to look at objective market indicators, Yoo said, “Leave it to individuals to decide for themselves whether to buy or not,” and criticized him, saying, “People make their own decisions in the market and take responsibility for them; it’s not something for a government that doesn’t take responsibility to get involved in.”
He went on to say, “The government has other things to do,” and criticized it, saying, “To resolve the jeonse and monthly-rent crisis that is causing enormous hardship for tenants who do not own homes, the government should start by fixing the regulations and taxes that need to be changed immediately.” He also argued that instead of emphasizing falling home prices, the government should focus on expanding supply and improving unreasonable regulations.
In an earlier post, he also criticized President Lee’s interpretation of real estate statistics. Yoo said, “The Korea Real Estate Board under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) announced that Seoul apartment prices had risen for 90 consecutive weeks, but President Lee Jae-myung says they are ‘falling to a surprising degree.’ Apparently, he sees only falling home prices in Gangnam and doesn’t see the crazy housing prices and jeonse and monthly rents outside Gangnam in the Seoul metropolitan area.”
He sharpened his criticism, saying, “Even for Gangnam home prices, the government-affiliated Korea Real Estate Board says they are falling, but privately compiled statistics such as those from KB Real Estate and Real Estate 114 don’t necessarily show that. The only person unable to see objective data and accurate information is the president.”
[email protected] An Ga-eul Reporter