Cheong Wa Dae trapped in ‘one house’ rule

Issues surrounding real estate continue to plague President Moon Jae-in, with yet another property speculation scandal adding a new name to the growing string of top aides who have resigned from their positions.

On Sunday, Kim Gi-pyo, Moon’s anti-corruption secretary, offered his resignation, just two days after allegations were raised over his recent property declaration involving loans worth billions of won.

According to the declaration, he owns assets worth 9.12 billion won ($8.05 million) while having financial liabilities of 5.62 billion won. His properties include: two commercial stores in Seoul worth a combined 6.55 billion won; an apartment in the city of Seongnam, south of Seoul, worth 1.45 billion won; and forest land adjacent to a district currently under development in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, worth 830 million won.

Kim, a former prosecutor, denied any wrongdoing in the process of getting the loans or purchasing the land but expressed regret for causing public concern.

“Under our appointment system, we also checked his property details but found no speculative purchase,” a Cheong Wa Dae official said on the condition of anonymity. “But we accept people’s criticism that our system is not strict enough to meet their demands.”

Property hikes, especially in the greater Seoul area where almost half the population lives, has been the biggest drag on the Moon administration. Since his election in 2017, a total of 25 new policies have been announced to contain the heated market and supply more affordable houses but ended up being futile attempts.

According to the civic group Citizens Coalition for Economic Justice on Wednesday, the most common 84-square-meter apartments in Seoul have seen their prices surge 79 percent over the past four years of Moon’s presidency. Government-fixed prices that are used for taxation also soared 86 percent during the same period.

But what angers people more than the price hikes appears to be the hypocritical act of ranking government officials, especially those affiliated with the office making decisions – Cheong Wa Dae.

Related controversies date back to March 2019 when Moon’s former spokesperson Kim Eui-kyeom resigned over his purchase of a commercial building worth 2.5 billion won in a Seoul district that was under redevelopment. The purchase through massive loans faced severe backlash as it was made when the government was tightening rules for mortgage financing.

He explained that the purchase was aimed at preparing for his retirement but the remarks added fuel to people’s outrage because toughened regulations on loans affected not just wealthy speculative investors but also ordinary citizens who consider real estate one of the key investment areas for their retirement.

Following Kim’s resignation, Cheong Wa Dae announced its own rule of “one house only” for senior officials and key presidential aides with multiple houses were advised to sell their properties except for where they were currently residing.

Senior officials rushed to sell their homes but some of them failed to do so and left Cheong Wa Dae.

Kim Joe-won, then senior secretary for civil affairs, faced criticism for putting his Gangnam apartment up for sale at a price almost 200 million higher than the market price, while Yeo Hyun-ho, former secretary for government information, left Cheong Wa Dae after delaying to sell one of the two houses he owned.

Chief of staff Noh Young-min who introduced the “one house” rule was also under fire for keeping a luxury Gangnam apartment while selling a less lucrative apartment in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, the city he represented as a lawmaker.

In August 2020, Noh and other four key presidential aides stepped down to take responsibility amid mounting criticism for the government’s handling of the property market and a series of mishaps by some senior officials.

The most severe blow, among other things, was the humiliating departure of Kim Sang-jo, then Moon’s chief policy adviser who was overseeing the nation’s housing policy, in March this year amid a snowballing insider information scandal surrounding the state-run housing developer Land & Housing Corp.

He faced criticism for raising the rent for his Gangnam apartment by 14 percent last July, two days before a 5 percent ceiling on rent hikes took effect as part of government efforts to curb the jeonse prices and protect tenants from excessive rent increases.

He said he had to pay the increased rent for his jeonse apartment where he and his wife lived but he declined to explain why he didn’t use cash deposits worth 900 million won under his name.

“It’s extremely difficult to find proper candidates for Cheong Wa Dae or Cabinet jobs in the president's final year,” said another senior Cheong Wa Dae official who wished to be unnamed. “Due to stricter requirements, the appointment process could be delayed further.” 

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)