The presidential campaign trail is getting hot in Korea, with the next presidential election less than three months away. Lee Jae-myung, presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, and Yoon Suk-yeol, presidential candidate of the People Power Party, showed their positions on economic issues in mid-December.
“We need to thoroughly punish stock price manipulators who ruin the market,” said candidate Lee, who visited Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province for four days, and in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province.
“If you vote for me in the coming presidential election, I will thoroughly punish fund frauds and step up efforts to help the composite stock exchange index reach 5,000 points,” he said.
In other words, candidate Lee, who advocated that he would become an economic president, differentiated himself from rival Yoon. “The Korean stock market is too undervalued,” Lee said.
“The reason is that there are many people manipulating stock prices in the stock market. “Who wants to play the market with stock market manipulators? The stock market should be free from stock price manipulation and have fair rules”
“I will introduce a penalty system that can effectively seize illegal profits generated through stock price manipulations," Lee said.
Moreover, Lee brought up the issue of real estate tax reform on Dec. 18, proposing that the Democratic Party and government undertake full review of the official real estate price system.
Lee argued that the ruling Democratic Party and the government should ease the public’s burden by freezing property taxes and universal health insurance premiums at this year's level for next year through prompt consultations.
“Housing prices have ballooned this year,” Lee said on his Facebook page on Dec. 18. “Therefore, official real estate prices used for the calculation of real estate-related taxes are expected to rise considerably next year. We need to fully review the official price-related system in consideration of the people’s livelihood.”
Yoon Suk-yeol, presidential candidate of the People Power Party, visits the Mia 4-1 Redevelopment Section in Gangbuk-gu, Seoul on December 12. (Photo: SMG)
On the other hand, Yoon visited an area where a redevelopment project is at a snail’s pace in Mia-dong, Seoul. "The continued supply of new houses to the housing market can prevent housing prices from soaring to some extent," Yoon stressed in a meeting with local residents.
Yoon criticized the Moon Jae-in government administration for a sharp rise in housing prices and pointed fingers to its failure in properly implementing real estate policies, expressing his will to stabilize housing prices by expanding real estate supply.
Yoon did not hide his optimistic view, saying, “If we improve taxes that could hinder the sale of houses and create conditions for the sale of existing houses in the real estate market, we can stabilize housing prices to some extent, I think.”
“We expect both the private and public sectors to supply about 1.3 million houses in the Seoul metropolitan area,” Yoon said regarding the amount of new housing supplies in Seoul through redevelopment and reconstruction within the five-year term of the next president.
“We are planning to build about 500,000 houses nationwide with the government taking the lead,” Yoon added. “I will create conditions for regulatory reforms for the construction of about 2 million houses by the private sector.”
“First of all, we will lower price-raising pressure on the housing market.” Yoon answered when asked a question about the effects of the supply method based on the deregulation of reconstruction and redevelopment amid a sharp hike in apartment prices.
“First of all, we will take control of real estate prices by giving the housing market a strong signal that considerable volume of supply will go into the housing market.”
Some residents of the redevelopment area asked Yoon for help in speeding up redevelopment projects.
“The Seoul Metropolitan Government can integrate and deliberate on the process of rapid integration and planning at one stop, so ground we be broken within two years,” Yoon told them. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon accompanied Yoon to the redevelopment area.
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