Kim Jowon 'High-Priced Property' Controversy... Blue House: "Men Don't Understand" vs Opposition: "How Much Did They Hate Selling?"

Senior Secretary Kim Lists Songpa-gu Apartment at Price Above Market
Cheong: "Senior Secretary Kim Does Not Set the Price"
Opposition: "Impressive 'Gangnam Love'"

Kim Jo-won, Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs at the Blue House. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Seul-gi] Kim Jo-won, Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs at the Blue House, who owns two apartments in the Gangnam area of Seoul, withdrew one of the apartments from the market after listing it at a price higher than the market value, amid controversy that he might not have intended to sell it. In response to the controversy, the Blue House explained on the 6th, "When it comes to real estate transactions, sometimes men are not well aware of how much they want to sell their property for."

On the same day, Chosun Ilbo reported that Kim, who owns apartments in Dogok-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and Jamsil-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, had listed the Jamsil apartment at about 200 million KRW above the market price. This led some to criticize that Kim might not have had the intention to dispose of the property.

Regarding the report, a Blue House official said, "(Kim) put the property up for sale, but I have not heard about the specific price he wanted to sell it for," adding, "Kim himself is not well aware of the situation after listing the property. He also thinks it will be sold by the end of the month at the latest."

When asked whether it was Kim’s wife, not Kim himself, who listed the property and whether Kim was not involved, the official replied, "We did not ask Kim specifically about that," and explained, "Our concern is not who listed the property but that the sales contract should be submitted by the end of August, preferably by mid-August. We are monitoring that part."

In response, Yoon Hee-seok, deputy spokesperson of the United Future Party, commented on the same day, "If he was so reluctant to sell, the house wouldn’t even appear on the real estate agency’s shared listing system. That’s some serious 'Gangnam love'."

Yoon added, "The public is beyond disappointed; they are despairing and angry. The government and ruling party have labeled multi-homeowners as speculators and criminals. Since a criminal cannot occupy a key position in the Blue House, immediate action is warranted."

Meanwhile, it is known that Kim listed his 48-pyeong (123㎡) Galleria Palace apartment in Jamsil-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, for 2.2 billion KRW at the end of last month. Besides this apartment, Kim also owns a 30-pyeong (84㎡) Hanshin apartment in Dogok-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

Previously, on December 16 of last year, Presidential Chief of Staff Noh Young-min recommended, "Multi-homeholding aides should keep only one property and submit the sales contract by mid-August."

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