Choo Mi-ae: "Rapid Real Estate Price Surge Due to Speculative Forces... No Fault of the Government"

"Speculative Forces Existed Beforehand"... "Cannot Entirely Blame the Government"

[Asia Economy Reporter Bae Kyunghwan] Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae claimed that the current government is not responsible for the failure in real estate. She argued that the recent price surge is due to speculative forces, not government mistakes. In particular, she asserted that the sharp rise in real estate prices is caused by speculative forces and widespread speculative sentiment, not government errors.

On the 22nd, Minister Choo stated on her Facebook, regarding the Sewol ferry disaster, "If the president had properly understood the situation, if the crisis response commander role had been properly fulfilled, and if the government had operated strictly in real-time, the result would not have been so absurd and tragic, which is the natural thought held by the public."

She continued, "Those who believe that the president (former President Park Geun-hye), who did not do her best, was forcibly removed are now worsening the crisis by demanding that the current president, who has been dealing with an unprecedented infectious disease crisis affecting the whole world for over half a year, step down because he is doing his best."

She also wrote, "Their claim is that the virus crisis is being exaggerated to cover up the failure of real estate policies," adding, "The rapid rise in real estate prices is due to speculative forces." She further explained, "Speculative forces are not limited to the wealthy few; even ordinary housewives and young people have joined the speculative ranks, and speculative sentiment has spread socially like an epidemic. In 2018, real estate star instructors operated in the market like the stock market, gathering general investors and targeting specific areas, moving real estate market operation forces by bus to hunt."

Minister Choo added, "These speculative forces existed even before the outbreak of COVID-19 and were not subdued despite several designations of speculative overheating zones." She then said, "There are operation forces mocking real estate policies, and people who sympathize with them have become widespread, so any policy inevitably becomes a belated response. This is why it cannot be entirely blamed on the government."

Additionally, she brought up the 'financial separation policy' she mentioned last month as an alternative again on this day. She explained, "The government's policy should focus on housing policies for the underprivileged without homes and provide proper financial support when the underprivileged seek housing, but a financial separation plan (separating finance and real estate) should be devised to prevent loans from being used for speculative capital." She added, "Future new supply should focus on public rental housing."

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