"'Homeless Uncle' Ahn Cheol-soo... Even Opposition Criticizes 'Noble Jeonse, Surprising Real Estate Tax Strategy'"

Ahn Cheol-soo, People's Party candidate for Seoul mayor.
Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Joo-hee] Ahn Cheol-soo, the People's Party candidate for Seoul mayor, referred to Park Young-sun of the Democratic Party as "a woman who owns an apartment in Tokyo" and emphasized that he is a 'flawless candidate' on real estate issues, drawing criticism from opposition parties as well.

Kim Hyun-ah, an emergency committee member of the People Power Party, criticized Ahn on her Facebook on the 22nd, saying, "This person is said to live in a noble rental."

Kim pointed out, "(Ahn) has deposit assets exceeding 10 billion won. Even after donating half of his assets 10 years ago, his stock value exceeds 100 billion won," and added, "He says he did not increase his wealth through real estate, but that's a ridiculous claim. Ordinary people’s entire wealth is the house they live in."

She continued, "It’s not that he increased his wealth, but the government raised housing prices and made him pay more taxes, so his taxes increased," and sarcastically remarked, "He is pretending to be an ordinary citizen, but in the end, he does not pay property tax. Also, financial assets have no holding tax. It’s an amazing tax-saving strategy."

Kim Hyun-ah, Emergency Response Committee Member of the People Power Party. Photo by Yonhap News

Earlier, on the same day, Ahn referred to his competitor Park as "a woman who owns an apartment in Tokyo" during a YouTube broadcast, stating, "(I) have a rented house and no land. Even I thought I should not increase my wealth through real estate, so I did not."

Ahn also described himself as "a man without a house," emphasizing that he does not own real estate.

However, some criticized Ahn, whose assets amount to 155.18 billion won, for emphasizing his status as a non-homeowner as a form of 'pretending to be an ordinary citizen.'

According to information disclosed on the Central Election Management Committee’s election statistics system on the 21st, Ahn reported total assets of 155.1806 billion won including those of himself and his spouse.

Among these, the value of 1.86 million shares of AhnLab stock owned by him is 141.732 billion won. For real estate, he reported a 335 million won rental deposit in Nowon-gu, Seoul, under his name, and 11.4734 billion won in deposits under his and his spouse’s names.

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