Sangjo Kim, Chief of the Blue House Policy Office, "Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to Prepare Supplementary Measures for the June 17th Policy"

Kim Sang-jo, Chief of Policy Office [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Son Sun-hee] Kim Sang-jo, Chief of the Blue House Policy Office, said on the 21st, "(Regarding the June 17 real estate measures) we will thoroughly review the practicality of various difficulties, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will prepare supplementary measures if necessary."

On the afternoon of his first anniversary in office, Kim held a briefing at the Press Center and said, "The government will thoroughly review and prepare reasonable measures." He added, "The Moon Jae-in administration is ready to mobilize all available policies to stabilize the real estate market," emphasizing, "The June 17 measures do not exhaust all policy tools."

The government announced real estate measures on the 17th aimed at completely blocking gap investments in the Gangnam area of Seoul. However, some voiced complaints that it has become more difficult for non-homeowners to purchase homes.

Kim explained, "Real estate is a field where it is difficult to satisfy all citizens regardless of the content announced," adding, "The focus of this measure was to tightly fill the blind spots of existing policies concerning gap investments and investments through corporations that threaten the stability of the real estate market." He continued, "There may be citizens facing various difficulties in the process, but the clear principle is 'protection of actual demand.'" He added, "For non-homeowners or single-home households, supplementary measures have already been prepared to minimize inconvenience caused by these regulations."

He also said, "For actual demanders such as youth and newlyweds, considerable consideration is given in loan regulations such as the Loan-to-Value ratio (LTV)." He added, "For public investments to be constructed in the future, the proportion of units provided to youth and newlyweds has been raised to 30%, and for private housing, it has been increased to 20%."

However, Kim stated, "Gap investment is a very peculiar phenomenon in our country's real estate market, and I hope the public understands that it is an element threatening the stability of the real estate market." He reiterated, "While the government is preparing sufficiently reasonable measures, if there are difficulties felt by the public, we will thoroughly review them."

Meanwhile, marking his first anniversary in office, Kim said, "I want to self-assess that the policy efforts of the Moon Jae-in administration over the past year have received generally not bad evaluations from the public." He added, "There are certainly aspects that need improvement going forward, but especially in responding to Japan's export restrictions and the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the Moon Jae-in administration has performed relatively well, which I understand has raised South Korea's capabilities and status."

He also emphasized, "For a swift economic recovery, the prompt passage of the supplementary budget bill is absolutely necessary," and urged, "Once again, I ask for the understanding and cooperation of the National Assembly for the government's efforts to help citizens currently facing great difficulties.

Kim also said, "The third supplementary budget bill only includes a 5 trillion won scale planning proposal for the Korean New Deal short-term projects." He forecasted, "Currently, the Policy Office and related government ministries are preparing plans for the Korean New Deal, a major government project to be carried out until 2025. We plan to prepare the big picture of the Korean New Deal policy, including not only budget projects but also reforms that induce market changes, and announce it to the public by July."

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