[21st National Assembly New Figure] Lee Yong-seon, Noted for 'Land Public Concept Constitutional Amendment,' Says "Constitutional Amendment Is a Black Hole... Disaster Recovery Comes First"

Elected After Third Attempt in Seoul Yangcheon-eul
Over 30 Years of Activity in Civic Groups Including Gyeongsillyeon
Former Senior Secretary for Civil Society at Moon Jae-in Administration's Blue House

Lee Yong-sun, the elected member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is participating in the 'Thanks Challenge' to express gratitude to healthcare workers fighting against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Photo by Lee Yong-sun's office

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Jin-young] Among the 300 elected members of the 21st National Assembly, 151 are first-term lawmakers entering the Assembly for the first time. More than half of the total seats in the National Assembly are filled with new faces. We present a series titled ‘New Faces of the 21st National Assembly’ introducing the first-term lawmakers of the 21st National Assembly and their aspirations.

Lee Yong-seon, elected member of the Democratic Party of Korea (Seoul Yangcheon-eul), said on the 6th, "The people gave their votes to the Democratic Party to get things done," adding, "The task of the 21st National Assembly is to organize the reform agenda that has already been raised."

In a phone interview with Asia Economy that morning, Lee said, "We will be able to address issues related to innovative economy and fair economy in the 21st National Assembly."

Lee was elected after his third attempt in Yangcheon-eul.

He won with 66,759 votes (57.5%), defeating Son Young-taek, the United Future Party candidate, who received 47,897 votes (41.2%).

In the 19th and 20th general elections, he narrowly lost to Kim Yong-tae of the United Future Party by 1.8 and 2.0 percentage points, respectively.

In this election, Kim was strategically nominated for Seoul Guro-eul, where former Blue House National Planning Situation Office chief Yoon Geon-young ran, so Lee faced Son, a lawyer.

When asked if the election was somewhat easier because Kim was absent, Lee said, "There is that aspect," adding, "Kim declared two years ago that he would not run again after vacating his office in the district, so he could not have come back even if he wanted to."

Lee, who served as the Blue House Senior Secretary for Civil Society under the Moon Jae-in administration, recently attracted attention by advocating for a constitutional amendment to introduce the concept of public land ownership.

He said, "We need to quickly establish the concept of public land ownership to solve real estate and speculative development issues," and "Let's amend the constitution in the 21st National Assembly," as reported by OhmyNews on the 29th of last month.

Regarding this interview, Lee said, "I was talking about the first bill I would handle as a member of the National Assembly, but the meaning was emphasized and reported widely."

He explained, "The three laws related to the concept of public land ownership (the Act on the Upper Limit of Land Ownership, the Land Excess Profit Tax Act, and the Act on the Recovery of Development Gains) were invalidated due to constitutional challenges, so there is a need to revise them," adding, "If provisions related to public land ownership are included in the constitution, legal stability will be ensured, so I said that if a constitutional amendment is made, it should be supplemented."

He continued, "Last year, as part of nationwide balanced development, preliminary feasibility study exemptions were granted at the provincial level, mostly linked to development," emphasizing, "Systems to appropriately recover development gains need to be organized."

When asked if he would actively advocate for constitutional amendment when the 21st National Assembly convenes, he replied, "Will a constitutional amendment be made just for the concept of public land ownership? The focus will be on restructuring the power system. Constitutional amendment discussions are a black hole, so we should focus on overcoming the national crisis now."

Regarding his preferred standing committee, he said, "My district is near Gimpo Airport, and many residents suffer from airport noise. Many residents hope the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee will resolve this issue. Also, regarding inter-Korean relations, there is the issue of connecting the inter-Korean railway, so I want to work on it, but it is said that members whose districts are in Seoul are not well assigned."

He added, "I have long been involved in inter-Korean issues, and since the remaining two years of the Moon Jae-in administration need breakthroughs in that area, I am also interested in the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee."

Lee is from Suncheon, Jeollanam-do, and graduated from Gwangju High School and Seoul National University with a degree in Civil Engineering.

After graduating from university, he was active for about 30 years in organizations such as the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ), the Korean Sharing Movement, and the National Council of Labor Organizations.

In 2011, he served as co-chairman of the Democratic United Party, which was formed by the merger of the Democratic Party and civic groups.

In June 2018, he was appointed as the Blue House Senior Secretary for Civil Society and served until July last year.

He said he would vote for a candidate who can work well with the Blue House in the Democratic Party floor leader election to be held on the 7th.

He said, "(The party and the Blue House) must cooperate."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.