Cho Kuk Supporting Lee Jae-myung? "Even the People Power Party Has No Grounds to Oppose, Need to Enact the Three Land Public Concept Laws"

Former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk and Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung (from left). / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] Former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk urged the passage of the 'Three Land Public Concept Laws,' stating, "The People Power Party and conservative media no longer have grounds to oppose." This marks his first stance on the 'Daejang-dong preferential treatment allegations' and is interpreted as support for Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung.

On the morning of the 6th, Cho posted on his social media, "Regarding the enormous profits gained by developers in the Daejang-dong development, the People Power Party and other conservative opposition parties, as well as conservative media outlets like Chosun, JoongAng, and Dong-A, have launched fierce criticism. In the past, they consistently defended the developers' profits," he said.

He added, "As I have repeatedly argued for a long time, the fundamental solution is to enact the 'Three Land Public Concept Laws,' including the Land Ownership Cap System, Land Excess Profit Tax, and Development Profit Recovery System."

Photo by Jo Guk, former Minister, Facebook capture

Cho stated, "In the past, conservative opposition parties and media opposed these laws citing Constitutional Court decisions, but the Constitutional Court has never ruled that the land public concept laws themselves are unconstitutional or inconsistent with the constitution. The court made its decision for legislative technical reasons and did not deny the purpose of restricting land ownership for the community's benefit," sharing part of the 1989 Constitutional Court ruling.

He continued, "It is worth remembering that the 'Three Land Public Concept Laws' were promoted by the conservative Roh Tae-woo administration. It would be good if the ruling party's presidential candidate and the 180-seat majority make a decisive move to push this forward immediately. Only the parts pointed out as unconstitutional or inconsistent with the constitution need to be revised. Investigations are being conducted by the prosecution and police. The National Assembly should make the laws," he urged.

Meanwhile, amid fierce clashes between Governor Lee and former party leader Lee Nak-yeon, a rival candidate within the party, over the Daejang-dong allegations, Cho's remarks were interpreted by some as defending Governor Lee, while supporters of former leader Lee expressed disappointment toward Cho.

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