Jang Dong-hyeok: “Lee has effectively admitted that cracking down on Gangnam is the policy goal... This is real-estate sadism.”

[Financial News]  President Lee Jae Myung called reports about his remarks on housing prices “fake news,” prompting People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok to retort, “Looks like he’s fretting because all the media are criticizing him in unison.”

On the 4th, Jang said on Facebook, “President Lee has been busy posting since this morning. He says he was talking only about Gangnam, Seocho District and Songpa District, so the media reports are ‘fake news,’” adding this.
Earlier, during a Cabinet meeting on the 3rd, President Lee said, “Actual transaction prices in major areas are falling to a surprising degree. Of course, there are areas where this is not the case, but it is important to make sure the public can directly access this accurate data.”
After an article appeared under the headline “President’s ‘housing prices are plunging’ remark: only Gangnam was right,” President Lee rebutted it on X (formerly Twitter) on the 4th: “‘Actual transaction prices in major areas are falling to a surprising degree’ and ‘in free fall’ cannot mean the same thing. Even if they did mean the same thing, you shouldn’t put them in double quotation marks and present them as a direct quote.”
He continued, “It is clear that I was referring only to Seoul’s major areas, namely Gangnam, Seocho District and Songpa District. I never said that ‘housing prices across Seoul are in free fall,’ so the claim that ‘only Gangnam was right’ is fake news too.”

In response, Jang said, “The assumption from the outset that only the three Gangnam districts count as major areas is wrong,” adding, “That amounts to admitting that the goal of real estate policy is to crack down on Gangnam.”
He also said, “Even the three Gangnam districts haven’t seen prices fall to a surprising degree. Everywhere except Gangnam, prices have risen remarkably—even in Gyeonggi Province and Incheon.” He added, “The jeonse and monthly-rent situation is even more serious. Rents for villas, officetels and even studio apartments are soaring. The suffering of ordinary people is reaching a breaking point,” he said pointedly.
Jang said, “President Lee talks as if the surge in listings, the sharp drop in transactions, and the increases in delinquency rates and auction cases are achievements. But listings have surged because people have no choice but to sell their homes under the tax bomb,” adding, “Loan interest has skyrocketed, so delinquency rates are rising and the number of properties going to auction is increasing too.”
He added, “Every one of these is a source of hardship for the people, but President Lee sees them as something to boast about. This is real-estate sadism. The administration will collapse remarkably quickly.”
[email protected] Kim Su-yeon Reporter