Seomin harshly criticizes, "I understand Moon's 'X stubbornness' for not firing Kim Hyun-mi when Byun Chang-heum came"

Professor Seomin, Dankook University
Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Eun-young] Professor Seo Min of Dankook University criticized President Moon Jae-in's nomination of Byun Chang-heum, president of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), as Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, saying, "I understand your stubbornness."

On the 6th, Professor Seo posted on his SNS a message titled "Title: Moon Jae-in, I Understand You."

Professor Seo sarcastically said, "I thought you must have some weakness since you endured the drop in approval ratings due to real estate issues without cutting off Bread King Kim Hyun-mi," adding, "Honestly, isn't everything about you a weakness, including just breathing?"

He then shared an article revisiting Byun Chang-heum's past statement that "the rise in housing prices is due to real estate communities."

The article criticized Byun's previous interview diagnosing the causes of real estate price increases, where he said, "Recently, there are online sites with hundreds of thousands of members, various lectures, and clubs active. A massive network that promotes real estate transactions and inflates housing prices is influencing the market."

Professor Seo strongly criticized, saying, "Now that the successor minister has come, I understand your stubbornness," and added, "You must have known better than anyone that if you cut Kim Hyun-mi, someone even worse would come."

Meanwhile, Byun, who has been nominated as the new Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, is considered a theorist of the Moon Jae-in administration's real estate policy. On August 3rd, he appeared at the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee's plenary session and said, "The Moon Jae-in administration's housing policy performance is above average," and "The Moon Jae-in administration handles (real estate policy) the best."

As a result, some express concerns that this ministerial replacement may be a declaration of intent to push existing policies even more strongly.

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