[Comprehensive] Despite Park Jumin's Explanation for 9% Rent Increase, Opposition Party Criticizes as "One Day, One Naero Naebul"

Park Jumin "Sorry for not being thorough" explanation
Opposition "Said they consider tenant hardships, but acts tyrannically"

Park Ju-min, member of the Democratic Party of Korea./Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] It has recently come to light that Park Jumin, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, significantly raised the monthly rent about a month before the passage of the 'Three Lease Laws' last year, sparking controversy. The opposition immediately criticized him, calling it "one hypocrisy per day" and "an insult to the people."

According to the National Assembly Public Relations Office and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's actual transaction price disclosure system on the 31st, Park signed a new lease contract on July 3 last year for an apartment (84.95㎡) in Sindang-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, with a deposit of 100 million won and a monthly rent of 1.85 million won.

The previous rent was a deposit of 300 million won and a monthly rent of 1 million won. Applying the then conversion rate of 4% from deposit to monthly rent, the rent was raised by as much as 9.1%.

Since this was a new contract, it was not subject to the rent ceiling system under the Three Lease Laws, but there were criticisms that it went against the purpose of the laws, which aimed to limit rent increases to 5% to minimize tenant burdens.

Park also took the lead in proposing the 'Housing Lease Protection Act Amendment' as the 'No. 1 bill' of the 21st National Assembly, which centered on these contents.

As the controversy erupted, Park explained on his Facebook on the same day, "Since it was a new contract, it was not subject to the conversion rate under the Housing Lease Protection Act, so the market price had to be the standard."

He added, "The real estate agency owner said it was a contract cheaper than the market price, so I had believed so until now, but after inquiries and review, I found out that the contract was only about 200,000 won lower per month than the market price," and apologized, saying, "I feel sorry for not carefully managing it while advocating housing stability and failing to conclude the contract at a price significantly lower than the market price."

Park Ju-min, Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker. / Photo by Yonhap News

Upon learning of this fact, the opposition immediately criticized Park, calling it "one hypocrisy per day" and "an insult to the people."

Kim Eunhye, spokesperson for the People Power Party, issued a statement that day, saying, "The ceiling he set for the people is 5%, but for his tenant, it was 9%," and pointed out, "Following the excuses blaming the wife of former Blue House spokesperson Kim Eui-gyeom and the landlord of former Blue House policy chief Kim Sang-jo, now the blame is on the real estate agency owner."

She continued, "The people want to ask: Are you sorry because you failed to manage carefully, or because your careful management was exposed? Former policy chief Kim at least packed up and left the Blue House. How will Park atone to the people? One hypocrisy per day, it's embarrassing," she criticized.

Kim Woong, a member of the same party, also mocked on Facebook, saying, "'While pushing the 'Three Lease Laws,' Park Jumin said he considered the hardships of tenant families,' but isn't the hardship of tenants caused by the tyranny of landlords like you who raise rents by exploiting their position?"

Former lawmaker Geum Tae-seop, who left the Democratic Party, said Park's explanation was off-topic and called it "an act of deceiving and insulting the people."

Geum wrote on Facebook, "The criticism raised against Park Jumin is that he, who proposed the amendment to the Housing Lease Protection Act and led the rent ceiling system, himself raised the rent significantly before the law passed, which is audacious," and strongly criticized, "No one made the unreasonable claim that the contract should have been made at a price significantly lower than the market price. Such a non sequitur is a serious mistake."

He added, "The point is, why did you allow others to raise rent by no more than 5%, but you raised it by 9%? Such non sequiturs make communication impossible and block serious criticism or questioning. I don't know where you learned such a habit," he scolded.

Meanwhile, after the controversy continued despite his explanation, Park posted an additional note on Facebook, saying, "Some reporters wrote as if I blamed the real estate agency owner, but that was never my intention," and bowed his head, saying, "Whatever happened to me, whether good or bad, is entirely my fault."

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