Local Government Chief and Democratic Party Supreme Council Member Yeom Tae-young: "The National Assembly is 'Uninterested' in People's Livelihood... Much Remains to Be Done"

First Democratic Party Highest Member from Local Government Reflects After 2 Months... "The National Assembly Doesn't Understand the Field"
Second Disaster Relief Fund with Only 7% Application Rate Is a Prime Example
Real Estate Policy Should Lower Capital Gains Tax and Strengthen Property Tax to Make Multi-Homeowners Sell Their Houses

Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young is being interviewed on the 29th at Kate Twin Tower in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Wondara] Yeom Tae-young, Supreme Council Member of the Democratic Party of Korea (Mayor of Suwon), sharply stated in an interview with Asia Economy on the 2nd, when asked about his reflections on the past two months as a Supreme Council Member, "Livelihood issues are 'out of interest' in the National Assembly." He leveraged the strength of local government heads, 'field politics,' to be elected second in the party convention last August. Since it was unprecedented for a Supreme Council Member from a local government head to be elected, the overwhelming vote share for Yeom drew reactions of 'unexpected' from the political circles.

Recently, through Facebook, Supreme Council Member Yeom expressed his reflections over the past two months, saying "there is still a long way to go." He criticized that the National Assembly is too detached from the field. In the interview, Yeom cited the second disaster relief fund as a representative example of the National Assembly failing to address field realities. He pointed out, "While receiving a work report from Suwon City, I learned that the application rate for the second disaster relief fund was only 7%, and just 5% across Gyeonggi Province. Essentially, the National Assembly passed a budget that cannot be used." He explained that applicants were required to prove their income had decreased by 25% compared to last year, but for self-employed and marginal livelihood earners, proving this with a 'salary account' was practically impossible.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Accordingly, Supreme Council Member Yeom extended the application deadline for the second disaster relief fund and significantly eased the application methods through the Supreme Council. His achievements also include exempting PC rooms, which had been ordered to close by the government, from paying monthly line fees of 700,000 to 800,000 KRW, and extending the period and waiving fees for food safety management certification (HACCP) for small food and beverage businesses. Yeom added that the reason he was elected against expectations was likely because "the Democratic Party failed to pay attention to details, causing disappointment among the public."

Regarding the real estate policy, which recently caused a sharp drop in the Democratic Party's approval ratings, he expressed concern that "multi-homeowners are practically cornered." He said, "Basically, capital gains tax should be lowered and property tax strengthened to encourage multi-family property owners to put their houses on the market." He pointed out, "Among those who own multi-family houses, even if they want to sell immediately, they cannot dispose of the property if tenants say they want to live for two years. They are practically cornered." He added, "In the case of property tax, if the official land price is realized, the property tax burden will increase sharply. To reduce the tax burden, the property tax rate should be lowered to around 50%. We must ensure that overly harsh policies do not emerge."

Yeom, who has served as co-chair of the National Assembly's 'Forum for Autonomy and Balance,' was also elected last month as president of the Good Local Government Council, an organization comprising 108 basic local governments nationwide. Yeom said, "Over the past two months, I have run to deliver the voices from the field at 25 Democratic Party Supreme Council meetings. There is still a long way to go. I will reflect grassroots politics, not politics trapped in Yeouido, in the National Assembly."

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